Communication done well works

The Post reports:

Ben McNulty puts securing his record-breaking number of votes and big margin over his rivals down to communication.

It appears he has secured the highest single number of votes for a ward councillor and the biggest margin over his rivals since the single-transferable voting system came in.

“I was talking to my wife [and said] ‘this is wild’. I kind of couldn’t believe the numbers as they came through,” the Labour councillor and Takapū/Northern ward councillor said.

I’m not hugely surprised. Ben is constantly communicating with residents. He posts regularly on all the neighbourhood Facebook groups (which most residents belong to) and tells people what is happening, what is coming up, what has been decided, how he voted etc. He doesn’t do so in a campaigning way (although he is, of course) but in an explaining way. He does AMAs on Reddit, and is a constant presence in his communities.