Anyone who is enrolled can vote in local elections and have a say on the people who will make decisions on what happens in their community.

You can vote for your mayor and councillors. If you are on the Māori electoral role you can vote for a councillor in the Māori ward.   

You’re eligible to enrol and vote if you are 18 years or older, a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, and you’ve lived in Aotearoa New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more at some time in your life.

The voting period for the Local Government Elections 2025, will commence 9 September 2025, and will close at midday sharp on Saturday, 11 October 2025.

Those who are listed on the final electoral roll will have received their voting packs by 22 September. Follow the prompts in your pack and drop into the post by 7 October 2025 or drop them in an official ballot bin no later than midday on 11 October 2025.

If you have not received your voting pack in the mail, lost or damaged your voting pack, are on the unpublished roll, or you enrolled after 9 August 2025, the easiest way to get your vote in is to do a special vote at one of our libraries. Just come in before 11am (all votes must be in midday sharp) on Saturday 11 October to any of our libraries and the librarians will help you get your vote in. 

There are voting places all across New Zealand, so everyone has a chance to vote. We will upload the Matamata-Piako District locations map when the voting places have been finalised.

Our council/kaunihera elections use the ‘First Past the Post’ system (FPP). This is a very simple method of electing candidates where the candidate with the most votes, wins.

Māori wards exist alongside general wards, covering the same geographic areas, but they do not only represent Māori. Like all Elected Members, whether elected from general or Māori wards, they represent the entire community when sitting on our Council.

Only people on the Māori electoral roll can vote for candidates standing for a Māori ward and constituency. Similarly, only those on the general electoral roll can vote for those candidates standing for a general ward/constituency.

Yes, on 28 April, 2021 Council voted to establish a Māori ward following a change to legislation earlier that year, which enabled Council to establish a ward for the 2022 elections without a binding poll. Other councils have sought to establish Māori wards in the past and have had the decision overturned following a binding poll.

Yes, we will be running a binding poll at the election to ask voters whether or not they want to keep or remove the Māori ward. The majority vote of the poll will decide the future of Māori wards in our district.

Legislation was updated in July 2024 by central government mandating changes to our Māori ward, and under the legislation our Council had two options:

1. Disestablish the Māori ward and complete a shortened representation review by Christmas 2024 (there would be no Māori ward for the 2025 local elections).

2. Hold a binding poll alongside the 2025 election with the outcome to come into effect for the 2028 election (there would still be a Māori ward for the 2025 local elections).

Council made their decision (option 2) at the Council meeting on Wednesday, 28 August 2024. You can watch a livestream of the meeting here.

The decision was made unanimously to retain the Māori ward and hold a binding poll alongside the 2025 local government elections. The outcome of the poll will be effective for the 2028 and 2031 elections, with Council undertaking a full representation review by 2027/28 as planned. You can read more about it here.

Yes. Voters in Māori wards and constituencies receive the same number of votes as those in general wards. In fact, there is a statutory formula for determining the number of Māori ward/constituency seats. It is based on the total number of councillor positions available (other than the Mayor), and the proportion of those on the Māori roll compared to the general roll, per council area.  It is this provision that ensures that a vote in a Māori ward has broadly the same weight as a vote in any other ward.

Your two poll options will be:

• I vote to keep the Māori ward
• I vote to remove the Māori ward

Now is the time to ask any questions you have around this. If you can't see the answers here, then get in touch with us. We want everyone to feel informed going into the poll.