Ruth Dyson says voting records should be published

[Ruth Dyson, our Port Hills MP, notices nearly half of our Port Hills electorate did not vote in the recent local body elections. The reasons for this are varied but not knowing how our elected representatives voted on issues of importance surely makes it hard to know who to support on election day. Ruth thinks it's time to make their voting records public.]

Christchurch's Local Government elections have now been and gone, with our Mayor, Councillors, Community Board and District Health Board representatives all elected. My commendation to all those who stood for election and congratulations to those who were successful!

The voter turnout was up nearly 10% from the election three years ago, but we still have nearly half our eligible population not voting. I am very keen for a public debate to be generated, asking people why they didn't vote – and then doing something about it!

Some people have said to me that we should have more civics education in our schools. I agree with that, but if you look at the United States of America, they have strong civic education and still have very low voter turnouts in elections. So the civics education part will be useful, but may not be the answer.

I also believe that voting records on issues at Community Boards, District Health Board and Council should be published regularly. I am amazed at how often people don't know how their local representatives voted on issues of big public concern and interest. We don't elect people just for how they vote on particular issues – but it is a pretty big part of the job!!

I know that some of our Community Boards have meetings combined with social time, so that members of the community attend meetings, hear the discussions and then get to meet and talk with their local Board members. I think this would be a good initiative for all to take up, including our Council. The more we know who they are and what they do, the more able we will feel when it comes to voting time.

Another issue that has been raised with me is the different types of voting systems on one ballot paper. I know that some people were confused by this and many votes are likely to be disallowed as a result of incorrect voting.

And postal voting may be more convenient for many, but it also takes away the focus of "an election day". A three week time frame for voting reduces the urgency – to the point that many people just forget.

There will be other reasons, and certainly in Canterbury, the disruption to many homes, businesses and lives caused by the earthquakes have meant that voting just didn't get up the priority list. I understand that very well. I trust that you all are getting the help and support through these times that you need.

I also hope that you will think about ways of improving our voter turnout – and feel free to let me know what you think!