With the 2025 local elections now closed, Great Barrier Island has officially recorded the highest voter turnout in Auckland, with 56.2 percent of eligible voters returning their papers – far ahead of the regional average of 29.3 percent.
The official count confirms no change to the preliminary results for the Aotea/Great Barrier Local Board. Izzy Fordham leads with 406 votes, followed by Ryan Daly (367), Nikki Watts (360), Christopher Ollivier (294) and Neil Sanderson (271). The remaining candidates were Gregory Heap (230), Ben Assado (203) and Fenella Christian (199).
The final figures show that 544 voting documents were returned from 968 enrolled electors, up 25 from the preliminary count. 22 were special votes, with the rest ordinary papers processed after the cut-off, none altering the result.
The five new local board members have already met for an informal session this week and will be formally sworn in at the Claris Conference Centre on October 30. At their first official meeting, they will elect a chairperson and deputy chairperson by majority vote under Auckland Council rules.
Fordham, who has chaired the Aotea board for the past six years and served as a member for more than two decades, said during her campaign that the island would need an experienced political voice as it transitions from the Hauraki Gulf Islands District Plan into the Auckland Unitary Plan.
“I’m stoked and really looking forward to working with the new board,” Fordham told the Barrier Times. “I’m grateful for the faith people have in me to re-elect me as one of their representatives. Really looking forward to the challenge.”
Newly elected member Ryan Daly – who follows in the footsteps of his mother Sue Daly, a four-term board member who retired in 2022 – told Kathy Cumming on Aotea FM that he was “humbled and pretty surprised” by the result.
“Thank you to everyone for turning out to vote. I was at Aotea Roast making coffees in the morning and had people trickling in telling me they’d voted for me – it was really encouraging,” he said. “Then later on I had a beer with friends and realised, oh, this is real now. Lots to learn, but I’m excited to get stuck in to get stuff done.”, he added.
Nikki Watts told Cumming she had been “very surprised” by the outcome.
“I was helping cater the Over-60s Lunch on Saturday and was a bit busy to check results until Tristan rang to say congratulations,” she said. “Mostly I’ve had lovely feedback from people looking forward to seeing how I can help the community.”
Watts said the new board’s first session was a chance to meet council staff and go over logistics. “It’s a bit funny on Barrier because we all know each other anyway,” she laughed.
In the Waitematā and Gulf ward, Mike Lee has been re-elected to Auckland Council with 7,991 votes – comfortably ahead of Patrick Reynolds (6,135) and Genevieve Sage (3,594).
City-wide, Wayne Brown has been re-elected Mayor of Auckland with 180,130 votes – more than 100,000 ahead of his nearest rival Kerrin Leoni on 77,577.
