If you’re looking for a fast, easy, and powerful new year’s resolution, enrol to vote in your local election. Enrolling is easy – it takes less than five minutes and can be done online here.

Enrolling to vote, or checking that your enrolment details are correct, means that come October, you can have your say on who should lead Hamilton for the next three years.

Why is enrolling to vote such a powerful new year’s resolution? The mayor and 14 councillors elected to lead our city will shape the future of Hamilton, in both the short and long-term.

Do you care about the health of the Waikato River? How our city grows? The speed limit around schools? Or how we plan for and adapt to climate change? The mayor and councillors act on behalf of Hamilton to make decisions on important topics like these.

This year’s election is an exciting one – it’s the first time Hamilton will be using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system to elect the council. Instead of selecting candidates with a tick, voters will now rank the candidates in order of their preference.

STV is a transferable voting system – if your top ranked candidate reaches the vote quota, part of your vote can be transferred to your next choice. Likewise, if one of your preferred candidates doesn’t get enough votes to get elected, your vote is transferred to your next preference.

The 2022 elections will also see the introduction of a citywide Maaori ward in Hamilton. If you’re enrolled on the Maaori roll, you will vote by ranking the Maaori ward candidates.

If you are of Maaori descent and not yet enrolled, you can choose to enrol on the Maaori roll, or the general roll.

If you’re enrolled on the general roll, you will vote for candidates in either the east or west ward, depending on where you live.

So, make 2022 a year of small actions with a big impact. Enrol to vote, and shape the future you want to see for your city.

© Scoop Media