With the local body elections coming up, there are many new voters who may not be familiar with how the voting system works.

This year the Tauranga City Council elections will use the single-transferable vote or STV system, which is a preferential voting system where voters rank some or all candidates in order of preference.

Voters will rank their favourite candidate using numbers, for example your most favoured candidate will be ranked as number one, and second favoured will be a two, and so on.

In order to receive a voting paper, residents will need to be enrolled. In order to enrol, to check if you are enrolled or to update your details, visit the elections.org.nz website here.

On July 19, candidate nominations open, and electoral rolls open for inspection at council offices.

If residents wish to vote, they must be enrolled by August 16, and candidate nominations close at noon.

The voting process begins between on September 20. Over the course of five days, voting papers will be delivered to the homes of those enrolled to vote, and the papers will need to be returned by noon on October 12.

The voting papers can be returned in the post, or in person to a council library, or alternatively to the Willow Street service centre.

If for any reason you don't receive voting papers by September 25, please contact the Tauranga City Council.

The official results will be declared between October 17 and 23.

For more information on the Tauranga local body election, visit the website here.