Alliance farmers urged to have their say

Shareholders should now all have received voting packs for the election, with six candidates nominated for the two available vacancies on the Alliance Group Board.

Doug Brown of Oamaru and Murray Donald of Winton are retiring by rotation and not seeking re-election, so will retire from the Board in December.

All shareholders can vote in the election, which opened on November 26. Votes can be cast online, by post or by fax and voting closes at 10.30am on Tuesday December 15.

Alliance Group chairman Murray Taggart says the cooperative is encouraging the 5,000 farmer-shareholders to take part in the election.

"This is an opportunity for our shareholders to have their say about the make-up of our board. This election also follows the launch of our business strategy at road-show events across the country in October.

"I know this is a very busy time of the year for farmers, so I would encourage shareholders to vote as soon as possible. Shareholders can vote using the voting papers in the pack and return those by mail or fax. Every pack also contains a log-in and password for shareholders to cast their votes electronically."

The packs have been sent out by electionz.com, the independent election management company helping to run the election. Each contains a voting paper, with instructions how to vote, candidate profile information and reply paid envelope.

electionz.com will also email those shareholders with a known valid email address their individual voting details for voting electronically via the internet.

Any shareholders who have not received their voting pack should contact electionz.com on 0800 666 029 to arrange for one to be sent.

The six candidates are:

Mark Adams (Fairlie)

Stuart Baird (Winton)

Gray Baldwin (Putaruru)

Jared Collie (Dipton)

Jason Miller (Southdown)

Ike Williams (Pleasant Point)