Check your letterboxes Tauranga residents because voting packs are on their way, and this year returning your vote has never been easier.

Voting packs are set to be delivered by post from Saturday, 29 June, and will include a voting paper, return envelope and a candidate information booklet.

In a first for Tauranga, residents will be able to drop their completed voting paper into one of dozens of handy orange voting bins across the city.

Secure voting bins will be available at every Tauranga supermarket, as well as all Tauranga City Libraries, and the Mount Hub.

Voters can find their nearest voting bin by using the handy orange bin locator on Council’s elections webpage.

Residents can also drop their voting paper, in the return envelope, into any mailbox.

Tauranga City Council General Manager Corporate Services Alastair McNeil says it's time for Tauranga voters to choose the leaders they believe will best represent the future of the city and its communities. 

"This is a significant election for the city and the power is now in the hands (and letterboxes) of voters.

"We encourage residents to read through the candidate information booklet, and to watch the short candidate videos on our election webpage, so they can make informed decisions on who they want to undertake the most important jobs in the city," says Alastair.  

“This is also the first time Council will have bright orange voting bins at handy locations around Tauranga, to make it easy for residents to have their say this election.”  

Voters must return their completed voting papers in the return envelope provided – either by post before Wednesday, 17 July, or to an orange voting bin before midday Saturday, 20 July.

Council uses the single transferrable vote system, which means voters rank their preferred candidates, instead of putting a tick.

You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you wish.

If your first pick doesn’t get the numbers and is eliminated from the first round, then your vote goes to your second pick, and so on until one candidate has a majority of votes. 

Voting opens on Saturday, 29 June and closes on Saturday, 20 July at 12pm.

For more information, and to find your nearest orange voting bin, visit our election webpage here.