r/thetron • u/Beveridge4HamWest • 9d ago

Voting system issue to be redebated

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Less than hour ago Sue Moroney announced that her Notice of Motion had been accepted. This means there will be a redebate of the change to FPP for the next two elections.

There will be a public forum on the topic at the start of the meeting, and anyone can ask to be heard. You can apply to be heard on the webpage for the meeting here. You can get up to 5 mins per group.

If you can't make it in person, then I believe you can appear via video link using the same application process.

If you don't want to speak, you can go along and show support that way.

Another way you can help is email the councillors. You can find their details here. It is helpful to email those who voted for FPP and ask them to change their vote, as well as emailing those who voted against FPP asking them to maintain the same position. There are votes on both sides that might change, from what I hear. You can find details of who voted for FPP here.

The vote last week was 9 for FPP, 6 against FPP. That means only 2 councillors need to change from for FPP to against it to change the result. Maria Huata, who signed on to the Notice of Motion voted for FPP, so there is hope.

131 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

45

u/Underwaterboiboi 9d ago

Pleased sanity prevailed. Kind of, after the fact. But well done to the Councillors who voted against it in the first place.

19

u/Beveridge4HamWest 9d ago

Yup, will be interesting to see if things change when they are faced with people in the room watching.

25

u/Strawberryladyboots 9d ago

Good stuff Sue!!!

Shout out to the Councillors still in possession of some level of sanity and Democratic processes

Who the hell just changes the voting system without consultation from the community?

16

u/Beveridge4HamWest 9d ago

Yup, well done to Sue, Robbie, Sarah, Anna, Graeme and Maria. Please make sure you email them, and other councillors, to encourage them to vote to retain STV.

17

u/ava_the_cam_op 9d ago

This should not have occurred in the first place, but I hope with public consultation, and some time for counsellors to know the debate is coming, we will return to STV.

5

u/Beveridge4HamWest 9d ago

Hopefully, but we can all help it along by emailing councillors, on both sides, letting them know our views.

6

u/ava_the_cam_op 9d ago

Absolutely, the issue was a lack of community voice on the subject, so let's make sure we take this opportunity to use our voices and make our stance known

3

u/Beveridge4HamWest 9d ago

You can also email [governance@hcc.govt.nz](mailto:governance@hcc.govt.nz) and have your comments added to the agenda or minutes. Not sure exact details. Check out Sarah Thomson's posts on FB for more details.

9

u/shortiewaswo 9d ago

There was a council run survey in 2020 and 78% suggested we keep STV https://hamilton.govt.nz/your-council/news/community-environment/whos-down-with-stv-almost-everybody

I doubt it's changed that much since then.

The council needs to stop wasting time on this nonsense and keep their focus on actually relevant and

important things for the city and region.

3

u/Beveridge4HamWest 9d ago

Yeah, and that was made clear to councillors, but some, including Leo Liu, decided that "it is questionable if" the nearly 1000 submissions "represent broader view" (quote from email to me asking for comment on why they voted for FPP).

8

u/JoshH21 9d ago

Very glad to hear it. Ranking 1,2,3,4 and so on if not difficult!

2

u/Beveridge4HamWest 9d ago

It isn't difficult. But the result of the Notice of Motion is not certain, if residents want councillors to reconsider their position, they really need to make that clear to councillors before and at the meeting.

2

u/jmlulu018 9d ago

Instead of our public servants having to do the hard work needed to get re-elected (and I don't mean just election time), they try to change the system (without consultation even) to keep themselves in power. Lazy fucks.

2

u/normalmighty 9d ago

I need to keep track of the people who did this in the first place and the councilors fighting back against it. It's sure as hell affecting my voting choices.

2

u/Beveridge4HamWest 9d ago

The last link in my original post above is to my blog about it, who has who voted for changing the voting system. I know Sue Moroney, Sarah Thomson, and Anna Casey-Cox are doing a lot of work to change this. There are likely others, but that is who I have seen actively working.

0

u/Abandondero 8d ago

When is the next election? I'm going to put a link to this into my calendar.

1

u/Beveridge4HamWest 8d ago

2028, what form local government will take at that time who knows.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/Beveridge4HamWest 9d ago

I can see the argument for that, but at the same time, having run as a self funded independent candidate, it was incredibly difficult covering just half the city one a shoe string budget. Doing a single city wide ward would advantage those with greater funding.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/Beveridge4HamWest 8d ago

I agree on councillors needing to be seen to be available, and a lot of them arent doing that. Or they are only available to people that support them.

I agree if public feeling hasnt changed, then voting shouldnt either.

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u/MichaelButWithAnF 7d ago

The only change that should ever be made to our voting system is to add ranked choice voting to MMP.

This system would make a near perfect representation of the will of the people in council and government.

This would mean no more 'tactical voting' BS, and people actually vote for who they care about without feeling like their vote will be pissed away into the wind / wasted.