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Stephen Berry
Author: Absolutely Biased Guide to Auckland Local Elections 2022.
Former Auckland Mayoral candidate Stephen Berry is proud to announce he has completed writing An Absolutely Biased Guide to the Auckland Local Elections. “Fifteen articles covering the Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts, every Ward and Local Board contest as well as the Auckland Mayoralty have been submitted to thebfd.co.nz, with eleven now available to Silver Members. The final articles will be published in time for people to fill out their voting papers.”
The Absolutely Biased Guide to the Auckland Local Elections 2022 has reviewed and rated 23 Mayoral candidates, 34 Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trust candidates, 68 ward candidates and 378 candidates for Local Boards; a total of 503 candidates.
This isn’t the first time that Mr. Berry has written a voting guide for Auckland, having first attempted a guide in this format in 2019 but unfortunately could not complete the gargantuan task. “The 2022 Auckland Election Voter Guide is the largest and most comprehensive publication of its type in New Zealand political history,” Stephen Berry says.
Voting numbers in local government elections have been steadily declining for two decades. Mr. Berry says there are two factors that influence disengagement by voters. “Most voters don’t understand the role that candidates are asking to elect them for. I don’t blame voters for that, it is incredibly complex. The other factor that hurts voter turnout is that a significant number of candidates don’t know anything about the job they’re standing for and even experienced local board members promise to do things it isn’t legally possible to do.”
To read the Absolutely Biased Guide to the Auckland Local Elections 2022, people can sign up for a Silver Membership or higher at thebfd.co.nz. “Many weeks of work have gone into researching the 500 candidates and that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of thebfd.co.nz. Please do the right thing and support thebfd.co.nz if you wish to read this guide.
I am more than happy to answer questions about the guide itself and the process of writing it, however, I will not comment on individual candidates or contests, outside of the Guide itself.
