Final results for the 2024 Trustee election
Kia hiwa rā! Kia hiwa rā!
Kua tae mai ngā whakaritenga whakamutunga mō ngā pōti e pā ana ki te Poari Nui o Rongowhakaata. He mihi nunui tēnei ki ngā kanohi ora i ū, i kawea i te mauri o tēnei kaupapa nui, i rongo ai te iwi i tō rātou karanga.
Ahakoa nā te iti i whakaihu waka, me whakamana i te katoa ka tika. Arā, kua tūwhera te uranga hou ki mua i te aroaro o Rongowhakaata – ko te pae tawhiti kua karangahia, ko te pae tata kua eke. Kāti rā, kia whakakotahi, kia maia, kia ū ki te kaupapa, kia rongo te ao i te mana motuhake o te iwi nei.
Nau mai, whakatau mai te pae tawhiti ki tua!
Elections NZ have now completed the vote processing and our subsequent reconciliations for this year’s election. Thank you all for your participation in the election process and congratulations to the successful candidates.
Background
The allowable voting methods for the 2024 Trustee elections for the Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust (the Trust) were online and postal. Voting closed at 5pm Monday 9 December 2024. Clause 6.8 of the Second Schedule of the The Trust Deed allows postal votes received within 3 days of the close of voting date to be included if suitably date-stamped. Vote processing could therefore be finalised from Thursday 12 December 2024.
Election Reconciliation and Result Calculation
21 envelopes were received between 10 and 12 December that were appropriately date-stamped. Those envelopes were opened and the votes processed before final reconciliations were carried out. All returned voting papers were separately processed twice using the same vote counting processes used for local government elections. Those processes and software are independently audited.
Additionally, where a result has a margin of 5 votes or less, a third electronic count and reconciliation process is undertaken to verify the result. Having undertaken those processes a preliminary result document was created at 4.30pm on 12 December and sent to The Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust for review before distribution to the candidates. That result had a tie for the third placed trustee position in the Iwi- elected election, with Samuel Lewis and Michelle Mihaka both getting 241 votes.
The Trust’s Trust Deed is silent on how to deal with tied election results. In the absence of any specific process in the Trust Deed, we revert to the provisions of the Local Electoral Act 2001 (LEA) and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) as a best practice guide. That legislation is used by councils to process their postal elections and has detailed provisions to handle most election scenarios and has been tested in numerous legal challenges.
One of the recent changes to the LEA was to amend the process for breaking tied election results. Previously that was dealt with by the Electoral Officer by drawing of lots so that a result could be determined to allow elected members to be inducted asap. That responsibility has now been referred to a district court Judge.
The Trust election is a private election and there is no legislative ability to refer the result to the court for a tie-break process. The Returning Officer, therefore recommended the previous practice of determining the successful candidate by lot. That process independently was carried out by Elections NZ has been used to determine the election result with Samuel Lewis being the successful candidate.
Click the button to read the Recount Summary
Declaration of the Results
The final results for the 2024 Trustee election, that closed on Monday 9 December 2024 are:
Marae candidates
Whakato Marae Hohi Westrupp
Ohako Marae Phil Hokianga
Pāhou Marae Te Aturangi Nepia-Clamp
Manutuke Marae Meka Whaitiri
Te Kuri a Tuatai Marae Sarah Pohatu
Iwi elected Candidates
Connie Maynard
Roxanne Smith
Samuel Lewis
Click the button below to download full voting count details from Elections NZ
