The percentage of eligible voters enrolled as at October 23 (92.2%) remained below that of the 2023 general election (94.7%), although the total number of enrolments is now higher because of a larger population.
About 93,000 enrolments were needed to match the final percentage rate of the 2023 election.
Chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne said “there’s still time to enrol or update your details if you haven’t already”.
“You must be enrolled by midnight this Sunday, October 25, for your vote to count. You can enrol online at vote.nz using your New Zealand driver licence, New Zealand passport or RealMe verified identity.
“This weekend, we’ll be at events around the country to help people enrol or check their details. You can also drop off an enrolment form at one of our hubs. Locations and hours are available on vote.nz.”
Enrolment forms can also be scanned or photographed and returned by upload to vote.nz/upload or emailed to enrol@vote.nz. You can also check your enrolment details at vote.nz/enrol.
On October 23, 3,743,649 people were enrolled to vote. The final number of people enrolled to vote for the 2023 election was 3,688,292.
The deadline to enrol to vote is midnight on Sunday, October 25. Photo / Bevan Conley
Concern over enrolment law change
In December, the Government amended the Electoral Act 1993 to close voter enrolment 13 days before the date of a general election, which is October 25 this year.
Previously, eligible voters could enrol or update their details right up to election day.
In the 2023 election, the commission counted 603,257 special votes – equating to 20.9% of all votes cast – with 15,555 of those disqualified.
It’s projected that, in this election, around 55,000 special votes will be cast yet discarded.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he was “very concerned” about enrolments, particularly for youth, and blamed the Government’s law change which he called “the most draconian restriction to people’s right to enrol to vote that we have ever seen”.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has expressed concern about enrolment ahead of the the October 25 deadline. Photo / Stephen Barker
Those sentiments were echoed by other opposition party leaders.
National leader Christopher Luxon said this week that the new requirement on voters was “not rocket science”, and said it would reduce the time and work required to count special votes.
“The least someone can do is go get registered and enrolled to vote 12 days out from election day,” he told Newstalk ZB.
Le Quesne said the Electoral Commission is “putting all our efforts” into getting people enrolled ahead of the deadline.
Voting starts on Monday
Voting starts on Monday, October 26, and will close at 7pm on election day, Saturday, November 7.
Le Quesne said a range of places to vote will be open from Monday.
“Voting places will be open before election day in convenient locations including shopping areas, transport hubs, marae, community halls and tertiary institutions, to make it easy for people to vote as they go about their daily lives.
“There will be 207 voting places open on Monday, October 26, offering 1,437 hours of voting. The days and hours that advance voting places are open vary, so check before you go to vote.
“The number of voting places will increase as we head towards election day. On election day Saturday, November 7, more than 2300 voting places will be open from 9am to 7pm.”
You can find your nearest voting place on a map at vote.nz or by calling 0800 36 76 56.
EasyVote cards
Le Quesne said the delivery of EasyVote cards by email and post is on track for voters to have them at the start of voting.
“You don’t need an EasyVote card to vote, but it makes voting faster. If you’ve given us your email address, you’ll receive your card by email. If we just have your postal address or you’re on the unpublished roll, you’ll receive it by post.”