The Code of Good Practice for the Management of Local Authority Elections and Polls, is a key resource for electoral officers running election processes. The Code of Good Practice has been thoroughly reviewed and upgraded.
The Code is one of the tools in the local elections and polls tollbox sitting beside the legislation and other aids. The Code is not intended to replace the legislation nor the professional advise necessary to facilitate the decision making process.
Download full document (PDF 3.0 mb)
The primary purpose of the Code is to contribute to the development of good practice relating to all facets of the local electoral process. It achieves this by identifying the key components of the local elections and polls process, linking in the relevant statutory references and supplementing this with recommended good practices supported by sample documents, forms, references, etc where appropriate.
The Code is an electronic document designed for on-screen use but with full print capability
Download Part 1 (PDF 101 kb)
General provisions of the legislation applying to the conduct of local authority elections and polls are set out in Part 1. The more detailed legislative provisions and requirements relating to particular electoral activities together with recommended good practices, are set out in the relevant Parts of the Code.
Download Part 2 (PDF 200 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the 2008/10 timetable on electoral system, Maori representation and review of representation arrangements and 2010 triennial elections timetable.
Download Part 3 (PDF 810 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act, the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in areas such as: appointment of electoral officer including recommended attributes, characteristics and competencies for consideration by the local authority, accountability of electoral officer and declarations and conduct.
Download Part 4 (PDF 492 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act, the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) and other relevant legislation relating to the options and mechanisms for changing the electoral system and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in: changing electoral system, demand for a poll, poll timetables and information on electoral systems.
Download Part 5 (PDF 514 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act, the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) and other relevant legislation and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in areas such as: representation review parameters, preliminary considerations and representation review steps.
Download Part 6 (PDF 271 kb)
This part of the Code sets out requirements of the Local Electoral Act, the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) and other relevant legislation relating to the conduct of polls and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in petitions, demands and requirements to conduct a poll and conduct of polls.
Download Part 7 (PDF 312 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act, the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) and other relevant legislation relating to electoral rolls and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in areas such as: the residential and ratepayer elector franchises, advertising in relation to electoral roll and compilation of electoral roll.
Download Part 8 (PDF 560 kb)
This Part of the Code is to ensure that electoral officers are aware of the importance and value of providing informative, accurate and comprehensive candidate information and also of appropriate candidate behaviour so as to assist the achievement of the Local Electoral Act principle of all qualified persons having a reasonable and equal opportunity to nominate one or more persons and accept nomination as a candidate.
Download Part 9 (PDF 481 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act, the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) and other relevant legislation relating to candidacy and nominations, and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in areas such as: candidate qualifications, the nomination process and candidate profile statements.
Download Part 10 (PDF 397 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to electoral expenses and campaign advertising and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in areas such as: electoral expense limits, apportionment of electoral expenses and return of electoral expenses and donations.
Download Part 11 (PDF 76 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to elector information and addresses the following issues, including recommended good practices, not covered in previous Parts such as elector information, national advertising campaigns, multi-lingual information and meet the candidates events.
Download Part 12 (PDF 311 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to voting and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in areas such as voting method, voting document formats and order of candidates’ names on voting documents.
Download Part 13 (PDF 401 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to special voting and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in areas such as: the statutory requirements relating to special voting, special voting premises and communication facilities, and advertising availability of special votes.
Download Part 14 (PDF 385 kb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to scrutineers including recommended good practices.
Download Part 15 (PDF 1.2 mb)
This Part of the Code sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to the receipt and processing of voting documents and the counting of votes/preferences, and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in areas such as roll scrutiny, early processing of votes and security of premises and processes.
Download Part 16 (PDF 201 kb)
This part sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to the release of election and poll results and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in preliminary results, declaration of official results, factors that affect official results of elections and amended declarations.
Download Part 17 (PDF 172 kb)
This part sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to post election or post poll tasks and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in forfeiture and refund of candidate deposits, securing and depositing of electoral records and post-election or poll reporting.
Download Part 18 (PDF 240 kb)
This part sets out the requirements of the Local Electoral Act and the Local Electoral Regulations 2001 (LER) relating to disputed elections and polls and addresses the following issues including recommended good practices in recount of votes cast at elections and inquiries into the conduct of elections and polls.
Dowload Part 19 (PDF 263 kb)
This part deals with the term of membership of elected members and the filling of extraordinary vacancies. The rules, both insofar as the terms of membership (particularly around members coming into office) and the filling of extraordinary vacancies are concerned, differ between the different types of local authorities.
If you have any queries about the Code please contact David Smith at SOLGM National Office (DDI 04-978-1282) ot dsmith@solgm.org.nz