At midday on Saturday 8 October, all Vote Boxes across the region will be sealed and emptied. These last-minute votes will be delivered to the vote processing centre, and the counting starts.
“By Saturday afternoon, Aucklanders will have done their part in choosing who shapes Auckland for the next three years. Thank you to everyone who participated. We’re looking forward to meeting and working with our newly elected members” says Rose Leonard, Auckland Council’s Manager Governance Services.
When do we get to find out who wins?
Saturday 8 October, approximately 3pm – progress results
At approximately 3pm, just three hours after voting closes, Aucklanders can expect to hear the first announcement of progress results to find out which candidates are leading in the local election. These results will show full lists of mayoral, councillor and local board candidates with the number of votes each counted.
Votes returned at this point are from when voting opened on Friday 16 September until the end of Friday 7 October. This count is estimated to reflect 85 to 90 per cent of those who have voted.
At this stage, you’ll find out whether there are any candidates who are almost head-to-head (receiving similar number of votes). Candidates can stand for more than one position and therefore some may be leading with votes in more than one position. If this is the case, after the final count candidates are declared as elected to only one position. The vacated position will go to the next highest polling candidate.
Progress results are indicative of how candidates are performing so far and are only provisional, with Saturday morning’s votes and special votes still to be validated and counted.
These results will be available at voteauckland.co.nz from 3pm Saturday 8 October.
The next planned update will be on Monday 10 October. While other major centres around New Zealand may find out more about their election results following Saturday’s first announcement, Aucklanders will be patiently waiting until Monday 10 October to hear more. Due to the 150 Vote Boxes made available across the region, a high volume of last-minute votes is expected in the rush just before voting closes at midday Saturday 8 October. These votes will take time to be processed.
Monday 10 October, approximately 12pm – preliminary results
In the next nail-biting stage of results – on Monday 10 October, preliminary results will be announced. These results account for about 95 to 98 per cent of votes, and include votes collected on the morning of Saturday 8 October, with special votes yet to be counted.
Again, these results are still provisional and candidates with marginal leads may vary in the final count, and you very well could see changes again in the official results.
Saturday 15 October – the final count and the official results declared
On Saturday 15 October, the final count of 100 per cent of votes including verified special votes will be released.
Then finally, the official results will be declared, formally confirming the newly elected mayor, councillors and local board members. The declaration of official results will be published on Vote Auckland. This declares the list of elected members of Auckland Council, which will come into effect on Sunday 16 October*.
Then what?
Elected members will receive the exciting congratulatory call from Auckland Council and celebrations are expected to begin. On Friday 28 October, the newly elected mayor and councillors will convene for their very first meeting at the Auckland Town Hall as the Governing Body where they will make their declarations that they will act in the best interests of Auckland.
Each local board will have their own inaugural meeting to swear in their members, appoint their chair and deputy chair, and initiate the electoral term as they hit the ground running with business as usual for council.
* Update Thursday 13 October: Due to the large volume of special votes – the final count and official results will now be announced on Saturday 15 October. These were previously expected to be published on Friday 14 October. Read more.
For everything about Auckland’s local election, visit voteauckland.co.nz
