Postal Voting and Voter Turnout in Local Elections: Lessons from New Zealand and Australia

Abstract

The relationship between postal voting and voter turnout in local elections needs to be investigated in the context of whether postal voting helps increase voter turnout in twenty-first century local elections. This assists to uplift the discourse about New Zealand and Australia local elections and its voter turnout. This article explores the method of postal voting history by looking at these two countries and analysing the method of political participation at the local level. It argues that postal voting no longer increases or decreases voter turnout in these countries. KEYWORDS: • postal voting • voter turnout • local elections • participation • New Zealand