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Voting in local elections is by mail.

If you were enrolled at your current address by 1 August, your council will send your voting papers to you. They should arrive between 9 and 22 September.

You need to return your voting papers by 12 noon on Saturday 11 October.

Key dates (votelocal.co.nz)

If you were not enrolled at your current address by 1 August, you will need to make a special vote. To do this, you should contact your council's electoral officer.

Electoral officers (votelocal.co.nz)

Local elections are run by local councils, and the Electoral Commission's role in them is limited to enrolment. If you have questions about the local elections, you should contact your local council.

Vote Local provide answers to frequently asked questions about the local elections here:

Voter FAQs (votelocal.co.nz)

Local elections are run by local councils. The Electoral Commission's role in them is limited to enrolment.

For more information about the local elections in your area, you should contact your local council.

Council websites and maps (Local Government New Zealand)

If you can't find your enrolment in our online search, it doesn't necessarily mean you're not enrolled.

Some possibilities include:

• The details you've provided don't exactly match our records
  If there's a small difference between the inforrmation we have on file and the information you’ve entered, the search might not find you. This can sometimes be due to your browser autofilling information in the wrong fields, or may also be due to spelling or formatting.
• You’ve enrolled recently
  If you’ve recently enrolled or updated your details you won’t be able to see your details online straight away. It takes time for us to manually check and process enrolments. We’ll be in touch once your enrolment has been processed.
• You’re on the dormant roll
  If you’ve moved addresses since you last updated your enrolment, you may have been placed on the dormant roll. You need to update your address with us to find yourself in the search.
• You’re on the unpublished roll
  If you’ve chosen to go on the unpublished roll, you won’t be able to search for your details. You can contact our unpublished roll team on unpublished.roll@elections.govt.nz

If you have any concerns about your enrolment please contact us so our enrolment team can investigate for you.

Troubleshooting your enrolment

Under the Electoral Act 1993, election advertising may be published at any time, except on election day.

Election signs (elections.nz)

Councils may have their own rules about the placement of election signs. If you have questions or concerns about the placement of election signs in your area, you can contact your local council.

Council websites and maps (Local Government New Zealand)

We recently sent emails and texts to some voters asking them to check and update their postal addresses.

The emails were sent from no-reply@vote.nz and have the subject line ‘Do we have the right postal address for you?’.

Text messages are being sent from the number 2174.

The emails and text messages were sent between 5 and 7 February 2025.

If you received an email or text message and you have further questions please contact us using the form on this page or call 0800 36 76 56.

You can view the results of past parliamentary elections at the New Zealand Election Results website.

New Zealand Election Results (electionresults.govt.nz)

There are two types of votes at a general election: ordinary votes and special votes.

If your name is on the printed electoral roll at the voting place when you go to vote, you’ll cast an ordinary vote.

If your name is not on the printed electoral roll at the voting place, you’ll cast a special vote.

You might not be on the printed electoral roll at the voting place you go to vote at if:

• you’re voting from outside your electorate (or from overseas)
• you’re on the unpublished roll
• you’re not enrolled or need to update your enrolment details
• you enrolled after Writ Day (10 September 2023).

Both sorts of votes are worth the same when it comes to the final result!

The only real difference is that if you’re making a special vote, you’ll need to fill out an extra form. If you need to enrol or update your enrolment, you’ll also need to complete an enrolment form. This means it may take you a little bit longer to complete your vote at a voting place.

Special votes are counted during the official count. Before special votes are counted, we check each voter is enrolled.

If you’ve changed your address but haven’t let us know, or if you’ve never enrolled to vote, you may have received a letter asking “Are you enrolled at your current address?”. If you receive this letter, you may need to enrol or update your enrolment.

You can enrol or update online, or give us a call on 0800 36 76 56.

It's easy to enrol, check or update your enrolment details.

You can enrol or update your details online with your NZ passport, NZ driver licence, or verified RealMe ID.

Enrol or update online

You can enrol or update without ID by filling out an enrolment form online and having it sent to you to sign and return, or by downloading a blank enrolment form (or having one mailed to you).

Other ways to enrol

Find out how to make a request to us under the Official Information Act (OIA)