Positions

Waimakariri District Council has two decision-making parts: the Council and Community Boards.

Elections are held for the following positions every three years:

• Mayor (1)
• Councillor (10)
• Community Board members (24)

Council

The Council is made up of the mayor and 10 councillors. It makes decisions important for Waimakariri as a whole.
All Waimakariri voters elect the mayor, while councillors are elected by voters from the ward they represent.

Waimakariri has three wards:

• Rangiora-Ashley
• Kaiapoi-Woodend
• Oxford-Ohoka.

You can view the ward maps online.

Community Boards

Waimakariri's four community boards represent their individual areas.  Each community board has between five and eight members, elected by voters from the areas they represent. Councillors are also members of the Community Board covering their ward.
Community boards make decisions on local issues, activities and facilities, and help build strong communities.

The Community Boards are:

• Oxford-Ohoka
• Rangiora-Ashley
• Kaiapoi-Tuahiwi
• Woodend-Sefton

You can view the community board maps online.

Rangiora-Ashley Community Board representing the Rangiora and Ashley subdivisions. This board has eight elected board members and four elected Councillors. Five Board members will come from the Rangiora subdivision and three Board members will come from the Ashley subdivision. Once elected to the Board all members will represent the Rangiora-Ashley Ward.

Oxford-Ohoka Community Board representing the Oxford and Ohoka-Swannanoa subdivisions. This Board has six elected Board members and two elected Councillors. Three Board members will come from the Oxford subdivision and three Board members will come from the Ohoka-Swannanoa subdivision. Once elected to the Board all members will represent the Oxford-Ohoka Ward.

Kaiapoi-Tuahiwi Community Board representing the southern area of the Kaiapoi-Woodened Ward. This board has five elected Board members and two elected Councillors. All five Board members will come from Kaiapoi-Tuahiwi Community and once elected all the Board will represent the Kaiapoi-Tuahiwi Community area.

Woodened-Sefton Community Board representing the northern area of the Kaiapoi-Woodend Ward. This Board has five elected Board members and two elected Councillors. All five Board members will come from the Woodened-Sefton Community and once elected all the Board will represent the Woodened-Sefton Community area.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) Elections

As above, you can also vote in the Environment Canterbury (ECan) elections. A total of seven councillors will be elected – four from Christchurch, three from rural districts (1 from the North Canterbury area). For more information, visit Ecan's website.

Who Can Vote

Anyone 18 years or older who is a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and has lived in New Zealand for more than one year continuously at some time in their life.

How to Enrol

If you love Waimakariri and want to vote on the future of the Waimakariri District, enrol to vote so you can have a say on the people who make decisions on what happens in your community.

If you’re not enrolled to vote, visit the Electoral Commission, call 0800 36 76 56, or free text your name and address to 3076.

Special Voting

There are many reasons you would cast a special vote, including:

• Your name does not appear on the final electoral roll, but you qualify as an elector
• You have chosen to put your name on the unpublished (confidential) roll
• You have moved since the electoral roll was compiled (and have lived at your new residential address for one month or more)
• You spoilt, lost or did not receive your ordinary voting document
• You will be away from your residential address during the voting period
• You are eligible to vote for some positions in the electorate as a ratepayer elector (for a property you own but do not live in)

You will need to sign a statutory declaration when you cast a special vote. This is a legal requirement to protect voters against possible duplicate voting. The statutory declaration will be provided to the person casting the special vote, along with a special voting paper and candidate profile booklet.

Residential Electors

If you are registered to vote in parliamentary elections, you will be automatically enrolled on the local body residential electoral roll as a residential elector at the address where you live.

Find out which ward you are in.

You will receive a voting document so that you can vote by post.

Any changes to the residential roll, such as your address, should be made by:

• Calling 0800 ENROLNOW (0800 36 76 56 ); or
• Freetext 3676; or
• Visiting the Electoral Commission website.

Ratepayer electors

A Council district includes a city, district and regional council area, and a community board area.

If you are on the electoral roll in one area and pay rates on a property in another area, you may be eligible for enrolment on the non-resident ratepayer roll. This qualifies you to vote more than once in the local elections.

You may be eligible as a non-resident ratepayer elector in Christchurch City Council if both of these apply:

• You are on the district valuation roll and pay rates in the Christchurch City Council district.
• The address where you are registered on the residential roll is outside of the Christchurch city ward or community board area.

Your eligibility to enrol or be nominated may also depend on your individual circumstances as determined by criteria in the Local Electoral Act 2001 and its regulations.

An organisation can nominate one of its members or officers to vote on its behalf

If a firm, company, trust, corporation, society partners, joint tenants and tenants in common collectively pay rates on a property in a council district, one of the group may be nominated to be the ratepayer elector.

The person nominating and the nominated person must be registered as a residential elector outside the council district where the property is located.

You can only enrol once

You can only enrol, or be nominated to enrol as a ratepayer elector, once in a council district, no matter how many properties you own in that council district. A council district includes a city, district and regional council area, and a community board area.

New ratepayer electors

If you have questions about whether you may be eligible to enrol or to nominate someone as a ratepayer elector, please contact the Electoral Officer elections@wmk.govt.nz

You can check your eligibility and complete an online enrolment form at Electionz.com.

Who Can Stand for Election

Anyone 18 years or older who is a New Zealand citizen (proof will be required) and is enrolled on the parliamentary roll.