In the city of

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton (, ) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato, Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's List of c ...

, elections were held for the offices of Mayor of Hamilton and twelve members of the

Hamilton City Council Hamilton City Council is the governing body of the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Since 21 November 1960, Council has met at Hamilton City Hall at 71 Main Street West. The current council consists of the mayor In many countries, a may ...

(HCC) on 12 October 2013. They were held as part of the

2013 New Zealand local elections The 2013 New Zealand local elections were triennial elections to elect local government officials and District Health Board members, and the membership of other local bodies such as Licensing Trusts. All elections were conducted by Postal vo ...

. Referendums on city

water fluoridation Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to Public water supply, public water supplies to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water maintains fluoride levels effective for cavity prevention, achieved naturally or through supplem ...

and to determine voting method for electing city councillors in the future were held simultaneously.

Postal ballot Postal may refer to: Places * The Italian name for Burgstall, South Tyrol in northern Italy * Postal, Missouri * Postal Square * Postal Museum (Liechtenstein), a postal museum in Vaduz, Liechtenstein People * Fred Postal, former co-owner ...

s were issued to 97,259 registered voters, and were returned from 23 September to 12 October 2013. Across the city, 37,276 people cast votes, a

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

of 38.33%. Some voters chose not to vote in particular elections or referendums, so voter turnout in individual elections varies from this figure. Julie Hardaker was re-elected for her second term as mayor with 43.6% of the vote.

First past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

(FPP) was used to elect the twelve members of the HCC—six from each of the East and West Wards. FPP was retained over

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

(STV) as the method used to elect city councillors in future elections. A majority voted for the return of city water fluoridation.

Mayor

Incumbent mayor Julie Hardaker was re-elected with a 2,911-vote majority over Ewan Wilson.

City council

East Ward

The six candidates with the most votes were elected, shown in the table below by a green tick.

West Ward

Referendums

Water fluoridation

Background

Fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an Inorganic chemistry, inorganic, Monatomic ion, monatomic Ion#Anions and cations, anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose ...

has been added to drinking water in Hamilton since 1966 to improve dental health. Hamilton sources its water from the

Waikato River The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for through the North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and flowing through Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake. It th ...

, which has a fluoride concentration of 0.1–0.3 parts per million (ppm); in 2012 fluoride concentration in Hamilton drinking water was 0.7 parts per million. Parts of southern and western

Waikato District Waikato District is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority of New Zealand, in the northern part of Waikato region, North Island. Waikato District is administered by the Waikato District Council, with headquarters in Ngā ...

are also served by the Hamilton city water supply. In 2006, a binding referendum was held in which 69.46% of voters supported continuation of public water fluoridation, while 30.54% opposed it. The referendum had a voter turnout of 38%. During the draft of the city council's 2011/12 annual plan in February 2011, the termination of water fluoridation was discussed by councillors, but no decision was made. 120 submissions related to water fluoridation were filed for the annual plan in March and April 2011. A referendum was planned to coincide with the 2013 local elections, but this was cancelled by the council on 8 June 2012 after taking legal advice that the referendum may not be deemed adequate public consultation. From 28 to 31 May 2013, public hearings were held and attended by councillors, and on 5 June 2013, the city council voted 7–1 (with five abstentions) to cease water fluoridation. The council wrote to

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

Tony Ryall Anthony Boyd Williams Ryall (born 19 November 1964) is a former New Zealand politician. He represented the National Party in the New Zealand Parliament from 1990 to 2014. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as a cabinet minister, holding the posts ...

requesting that, as a health issue, water fluoridation be decided by the national government. The cost of water fluoridation was estimated by the city council as $48,000 per year.

Results

Aftermath

On election day, the referendum result was welcomed by both the chief executive and Medical Officer of Health of the Waikato

District Health Board District health boards (DHBs) in New Zealand were organisations established by the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000 under the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand, Fifth Labour Government, responsible for ensuring the provisio ...

. As the referendum was not binding, a council vote was required to restart fluoridation. On 28 November 2013 the HCC delayed its decision pending a legal challenge to the decision by the

South Taranaki District South Taranaki is a territorial authority on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island that contains the towns of Hāwera (the seat of the district), Manaia, Ōpunake, Patea, Eltham, and Waverley. The District has a land area of 3,575.46 ...

to fluoridate water there. The HCC voted 9–1 in favour (3 abstentions) of refluoridating water on 27 March 2014. The lobby group Safe Water Alternative New Zealand (SWANZ) sought an interim order from the High Court to prevent fluoridation until their application for

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...

could be heard. The application for an interim order was dismissed on 27 June 2014. SWANZ removed its application for judicial review on 4 September 2014, ahead of the 9 September hearing.

Voting method

Notes

References

{{Reflist

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

2010s in Hamilton, New Zealand