A hearing for appeals against the city council's decision to change the way it is elected, takes place today.
Tauranga City Council wants to do away with ward voting and have all councillors elected at large.
Some electors disagree, particularly voters from the Mount Maunganui-Papamoa ward.

Six appeals have been received against the final proposal. Five want to speak to the Local Government Commission about it and their hearing begins at 1pm.
The council was required to change its voting system because of a growing population imbalance between the Te Papa-Welcome Bay and the Otumoetai-Bethlehem wards.
Otumoetai-Bethlehem has 31,700 people, Welcome Bay 39,700. The percentage of difference means changes are required by law to bring things back into balance. The council could have simply shifted the boundary to balance things out, but instead voted in June to throw the wards out completely and have all councillors elected at large.
Other options are to combine the existing Te Papa-Welcome Bay and Otumoetai-Bethlehem Wards with two members, and retain the Mount Maunganui-Papamoa Ward with one member.
To retain existing ward boundaries with a total of 11 members elected from the Te Papa-Welcome Bay Ward four members, Otumoetai-Bethlehem three members, and the Mount Maunganui-Papamoa Ward four members.
The current arrangements provide for 10 councillors plus the mayor. Seven of the 10 councillors are elected at large, representing the city as a whole. The remaining three are elected by wards; Mount-Papamoa, Otumoetai-Bethlehem, Te Papa Welcome Bay.
Two appellants to be heard today support keeping the existing arrangements, though commission advisor Michael Coles says neither is presenting solutions for the ward population imbalance.
Three of the appellants favour an 11 member council.
The council's view is that Tauranga is one of the smallest cities in New Zealand based on land area, and does not have specific communities of interest as do larger cities or cities split between rural and urban communities.
The major issues facing Tauranga are city-wide rather than confined to separate communities of interest.
Tauranga City Councillors are required by oath to serve the city as a whole, not just the wards they represent. The council believes the at-large representation is effective, and that the combination of both ward and at large representation is confusing for voters.

Click here for a complete map of the Wards.