Northpower Electric Power Trust (NEPT) online voting
In our recent Neighbourly discussions of the local elections I was one of the people in favour of introducing online voting. So I was quite surprised when I received my voting papers for the NEPT election and discovered that online voting was an available option. Great - I did my research, made up my mind who to vote for, and went online.
Well, it's probably a good example of how NOT to implement online voting :-(
The welcome page was nice enough, but the ballot page itself looked very crude and basic, as if the so-called style sheet, which defines the styles and visual elements of a web page, was broken or missing. But it was a secure website, so I ticked my boxes and sent it off ... and didn't get any kind of feedback if my vote had been received. Hmmm. So I decided to click on the link for the feedback page and wrote up all my issues and complaints and clicked on the send button ... only to receive a timeout after a minute or so. Well, it happens sometimes, so I tried again ... another timeout. I gave up.
I had written in my earlier posts that online voting needed to be done professionally and securely, to be acceptable. The NEPT voting website felt like shoddy work, done in a hurry and not tested properly. I'm pretty sure that my vote wasn't lost, at least as sure as if I had sent it in by mail, but a professional design, with a ballot page identical or at least very similar to the printed version, and a confirmation that the vote was received, plus a working feedback page is the minimum we voters should be able to expect.
Has anybody else voted online and had similar or different (better or worse) experiences?
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
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