The Christchurch City Council is being warned to consider the risks of online voting.

It's examining the possibility of taking part in the Government's online voting trial for next year's local body elections.

Despite the $240,000 price tag, staff are recommending council register interest.

The only councillor who supported the trial was Jamie Gough who said the council needs to be less risk-averse.

"At a company, if you don't innovate and think outside of the square day, after day, after day you'll become irrelevant," argued Gough.

"If you stand still you go bankrupt. You can't just raise rates, you can't just think it's a safe option."

But IT expert Jonathan Hunt said there's overwhelming evidence the process is flawed.

"Who can understand and scrutinise the vote counting process?" Hunt said.

"Online voting is not equivalent to online banking. The international evidence would not suggest it doesn't improve voter turn out. If this is the sum total of community engagement then it's not enough."