With so much of our life admin now done online or talking to an automated telephone message, actually physically posting a letter has fallen down the list of things we commonly do.

However, that’s not so when it comes to local government elections, which gives people the chance to refresh this time-honoured form of communication.

ORC’s Interim Chief Executive Pim Borren says he is pleased to see a good level of engagement with the recent candidate information evenings around Otago.

“ORC staff have been attending information evenings with our district council colleagues, and our social media campaign encouraging people to stand has resulted in higher traffic to the nomination forms we have up on our website, which is a great result,” Dr Borren says.

12 councillors sought for four constituencies

There are 12 councillors in all, with six to be elected to the Dunedin constituency, three for Dunstan, two for Molyneux and one for Moeraki.

Information evenings

Dr Borren says there’s two further information evenings coming up: tonight 25 July in Balclutha and 27 July in Dunedin.

“I encourage anyone thinking about standing for the Otago Regional Council to head along to get some good advice on what is involved in standing for election.”

Before you can head off to the mailbox

However, before you can head off to the mailbox to vote for your preferred councillors, there’s a couple of steps to complete.

First: enrol, check or update your details by going to Vote NZ or by calling 0800 36 76 56.

If you didn’t receive an enrolment pack by the first week of July, this means your details are incorrect or you’re not enrolled to vote. You need to be enrolled before August 12.

If you enrol or update your address after midnight on Friday 12 August 2022, you won’t get your voting papers sent to you in the mail. You’ll have to request special voting papers from your local council’s electoral officer.

Otago Regional Council’s electoral officer can be contacted by emailing liz.spector@orc.govt.nz.

Next: regional council candidates will be announced on August 17.

Then: do your research. Where are they based, what do they stand for in protecting the environment?

From August you will be able to read about the people standing for Otago Regional Council

Your voting papers will arrive between 16-21 September

Finally: time to make your choice! You can vote from 16 September to 18 October - the last day for postal votes is 4 October

Vote by posting your voting papers back at any mailbox.

Key dates for the elections

• 12 August 2022; at 12 noon Candidate nominations close and roll closes
• 17 August 2022; Public notice of candidates’ names
• 16 – 21 September 2022; Voting documents delivered
• 4 October 2022; Last day for posting vote by mail
  After this date votes must be returned to council’s secure ballot boxes
• 8 October 2022; at 12 noon Election day – voting closes midday
• 8 October 2022; from 12 noon Preliminary results
• 13-19 October 2022; Declaration of results
• October/November; 2022 Elected members’ swearing in ceremonies