Auckland Council is weighing up whether to switch from postal voting to general election-style polling booths for its 2028 local elections, after turnout fell to its lowest level since the super-city was formed in 2010.

Just 29 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in Auckland's 2025 local elections, according to RNZ. That was down from 35.5 percent in 2022 (Our Auckland) and the worst result since the council was established. Manukau ward councillor Lotu Fuli called the turnout "abysmal" and also raised concerns about the high number of informal (invalid) votes (Stuff).

In September 2025, councillors will vote on whether to keep postal voting, move to in-person booth voting, or adopt a combination of both for 2028. An Auckland Council report estimated that an IT-supported booth election running over 10 days would cost between $39 million and $55 million. Sticking with postal voting is projected to cost $15.5 million in 2028, up from $10.5 million in 2025, largely because NZ Post has increased its rates (RNZ).

The council said it was looking at ways to cut costs, including using council-owned venues as polling places, finding procurement savings, and encouraging early voting. The same report noted that staff believed changing the voting method alone was unlikely to reverse the trend of low participation (RNZ).

The question of how Auckland runs its elections connects to a wider national conversation. Local Government New Zealand's Electoral Reform Working Group, chaired by Nelson Mayor Nick Smith, has recommended running all local body elections as similarly as possible to parliamentary elections, including booth voting. Smith went further, arguing that councillors and mayors have a direct conflict of interest in deciding the voting method for their own elections, and recommended local elections be run independently by the Electoral Commission (RNZ).

Online voting has at least one local advocate. Franklin Local Board member Gary Holmes urged the council to push central government to allow online voting in 2028, noting that Auckland Council already offers online voting for its Business Improvement District programme ballots (RNZ).

Victoria University of Wellington associate politics professor Lara Greaves said the case for booth voting includes creating a community feel, with elements like sausage sizzles and bouncy castles. She also flagged the security risks attached to online voting, including hacking and foreign interference, which would be difficult for contracted election providers to manage (RNZ).

Council documents have previously identified the declining and costly postal service and the general decline in voter turnout as long-term issues (Auckland Council). Southern local boards have called for civics education in schools, citing poor voter turnout as a concern (Our Auckland). Auckland Council also decided in 2023 to retain the First Past the Post voting system for its elections (Stuff).

There is at least one historical data point worth weighing. When Auckland City introduced a new voting method in 1986, voter turnout reached 60 percent, twice that of the previous election (Auckland Council Archives).

The broader context here is that Auckland Council faces a genuine trade-off. Postal voting is becoming more expensive and less effective at driving participation, yet the booth alternative could cost three to four times as much. The council's own staff have signalled that no single voting-method change will fix the turnout problem on its own, which puts the onus back on complementary measures, from civics education to voter engagement campaigns, none of which fall squarely within the council's immediate electoral remit.

Smith's conflict-of-interest argument also raises a structural question that goes beyond Auckland. If elected members are setting the rules for their own re-election contests, the independence of the process is at least debatable. Shifting oversight to the Electoral Commission would require central government action, and there is no indication yet that Wellington is inclined to take that on.

The September vote will be a test of whether councillors are willing to commit to a substantially more expensive model on the strength of turnout arguments from other jurisdictions and the LGNZ working group's recommendations, or whether the cost differential keeps Auckland in the postal system for another cycle. Either way, the council's own assessment is that the voting method is necessary but not sufficient.