Facts about New Zealand elections

If you’re eligible to enrol to vote, and you live in New Zealand, then you must do so.

If you’re eligible to enrol to vote, but you do not live in New Zealand, then it’s your choice whether you enrol or not.

Are you eligible to enrol and vote?

You can enrol when you go to vote at any voting place in New Zealand – but if you enrol early, then voting will be faster.

If you enrol before Writ Day (about one month before election day) then you’ll be on the printed electoral roll at the voting place. We’ll also send you an EasyVote card, which will make it faster for the person issuing your voting papers to find you on the roll.

You can still enrol after Writ Day – but you may need to fill in an extra form when you go to vote.

If you’re overseas you must be enrolled by midnight (NZ time) the day before election day to be eligible to vote.

Enrol now

If you’re of New Zealand Māori descent, you can choose between the general roll and the Māori roll.

You will only be put on the roll you choose – there’s no ‘default’ roll for Māori, and you will not be put on any roll automatically.

You can change rolls at any time, except:

• in the 3 months before a general election,
• in the 3 months before the local elections, or
• during a parliamentary by-election if the change would move you into the electorate where the by-election is occurring.

If you’re not of New Zealand Māori descent, you must enrol on the general roll.

No matter which roll you’re on, you get to choose from the same list of parties with your party vote.

What is the Māori Electoral Option?

When you vote in a parliamentary election, your voting paper will be just that: paper.

You vote by marking your voting paper with a pen, then putting it in a ballot box.

There are two exceptions:

• If you’re blind, or you have a physical disability which means you can’t mark your voting paper, you can use our telephone dictation service.
• If you’re voting from overseas, you can download your voting paper – but you still have to manually mark it – e.g. with a pen or stylus, or using a touchscreen.

Voting machines aren’t used at New Zealand elections.

You don’t need to take your driver licence, your passport, or anything else with you to a voting place. No ID is required.

Your EasyVote card, if you have one, will make voting faster – but you can vote without it.

When you go to vote, you’re either marked off the printed roll at the voting place, or your details are recorded. During the official count, we compare all the rolls from all the voting places in each electorate to make sure everyone has only voted once.

Candidates and parties can appoint scrutineers to be observers in voting places and when votes are counted. Scrutineers play an important role in our elections. They provide independent assurance to voters that elections are being conducted fairly.

Scrutineers are usually given seats along one side of the voting place. They may be wearing a rosette showing which party they represent and may also take notes.

Scrutineers may wear a rosette with the logo and colours of the party they represent. Scrutineers are not voting place staff and are not employed by the Electoral Commission.

During a general election more than 20,000 people work at voting places across the country. These people are paid workers, not volunteers. They’re employed from the local community to work during the election period.

You’ll be able to recognise our voting place workers because they’ll be wearing orange vests. They’ll also have name tags identifying them as Electoral Commission employees.

Voting place workers do not wear party rosettes in the voting place. If you see someone in a voting place who is wearing a rosette, they are most likely a scrutineer. Scrutineers are appointed by candidates or parties to observe voting and the counting of votes.

Every voter at a general election gets to choose from the same list of parties with their party vote.

This is true no matter which roll you’re on (Māori or general) or which electorate you’re enrolled in.

Everywhere in New Zealand is covered by both a Māori electorate and a general electorate.

Every voting place in New Zealand will have an electoral roll for both the Māori electorate and the general electorate it is located in.

Some voting places may also have electoral rolls for neighbouring electorates, especially if they're close to the boundary of two or more electorates. This won't be the case for all voting places, however - and if you vote ourside your electorate you may have to make a special vote.

When you go to vote, you’ll be marked off the roll at the voting place. If you can’t be marked off the roll, you’ll make a special vote.

During the official count, we compare all the rolls from all the voting places in each electorate to make sure everyone has only voted once. We also check all the special votes.

If someone appears to have voted more than once, we investigate. If it is determined to be a case of multiple voting, all their votes are removed from the count. In some cases, they’ll be referred to the Police.

We have systems in place to keep track of every voting paper we issue. Every voting paper and every ballot box have unique identifiers, so we know exactly how many votes have been issued, how many ballot boxes there are, and how many votes we expect to be in each ballot box when we start counting votes after the close of voting.

We store the ballot boxes containing voting papers in secure locations. This may mean moving ballot boxes from voting places to secure storage at the end of each day.

All votes at a general election are counted by hand. This includes votes cast before election day.

We don’t use vote counting machines.

How are general election votes counted? (elections.nz)

On election day, we do the ‘preliminary count’. The preliminary count includes all the ordinary votes cast on or before election day. This gives us the preliminary results, which are released on election night.

Immediately after election day, we start the official count. During the official count, we count all of the ordinary votes again, and also check and count special votes.

How are general election votes counted? (elections.nz)

When counting is complete the results are recorded manually and then entered into our Election Management System. The system adds up the totals to produce the overall results which are published online.

The Election Management System was developed and is hosted in New Zealand. It regularly undergoes independent security testing and certification.

We publish the preliminary and official results from each voting place for transparency, and so people can add up the totals themselves if they wish to.

The number of votes for each party and candidate is recorded, but we do not know or record who people voted for.

Votes of no confidence are not a feature of our elections. Any voting paper where we can’t determine the intention of the voter is recorded as an informal vote. We record and publish the number of informal votes, but they don’t count towards the election result.

Even in cases where a voting paper has been drawn on, we’ll count votes for parties and candidates if the intention of the voter is clear.

If the party you voted for doesn’t make it into Parliament, your vote doesn’t go to another party.

The official results show how many party votes each party got and their share of the party vote. These results determine which parties win seats in Parliament.

To calculate how many seats in Parliament each party will get, we only use the votes for parties who make it into Parliament, either by winning an electorate seat or receiving 5% or more of the party vote. This means the share of seats in Parliament each of these parties gets will be higher than their share of the overall party vote.

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.

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.

On election day all election signs, posters and billboards need to be taken down. Election flyers or pamphlets can’t be distributed that day, and any digital or social media advertising must stop.

In addition, during advance voting, election advertising can’t be placed within 10 metres of the entrance to a voting place.

Election advertising can be published at any other time. Parties and candidates have spending limits which apply in the 3 months before election day.

All election advertising must have a promoter statement, telling you the name and address of the person who initiated the ad.

About election advertising (elections.nz)

Although election advertising may be published at any time, councils and local authorities may have their own rules about the placement of election signs. To find out the rules in your area, you should contact your local council.

Election signs (elections.nz)

Council maps and websites (Local Government New Zealand)

Registered political parties may get funding to pay for advertising on TV, radio and the internet. This is called the broadcasting allocation.

Parties can apply for funding even if they’re not registered – but they’ll only get the funding if they’re registered before Parliament dissolves.

Parties can use their broadcasting allocation for placement and production costs for TV, radio and internet advertising.

Parties can also use their own funds (within their election expense limits) to pay for production costs for TV, radio and internet advertising, and for placement of internet advertising. They cannot use their own funds for placement of TV and radio advertising.

The Electoral Commission allocates funding to each eligible party according to statutory criteria.

The preliminary results on election night are from the first count of ordinary votes cast before and on election day. Special votes are not included in these results.

It takes 20 days to complete the official count and release the official results. Ordinary votes are counted a second time and special votes, including overseas votes, are checked and counted.

The election night results can change once the special votes are counted and included in the official results.

The official election results can be challenged for a limited time after a general election through applications to the courts for an electorate recount or election petition.

How are general election votes counted? (elections.nz)

Election recounts and petitions (elections.nz)

During the official count, we compare all the rolls from voting places and compile a master roll to make sure everyone has only voted once.  

We make the master roll for each electorate available for public inspection after the election. It can only be viewed by a person who is enrolled in the electorate.

The master roll shows who has voted, but not who they voted for. Who you vote for is secret to you.

How are general election votes counted? (elections.nz)

The process of compiling the master roll is called 'scrutinising the rolls', and it identifies voters who may have voted more than once.

If someone appears to have voted more than once, we investigate. If it is determined to be a case of multiple voting, all their votes are removed from the count. In some cases, they’ll be referred to the Police.

How are general election votes counted? (elections.nz)

Voting papers are kept for six months after an election in case they are needed for a legal challenge. They are held in secure storage, in sealed boxes, and no one has access to them. Secrecy provisions mean that requests cannot be made to see a person’s voting papers.

After six months, voting papers are destroyed securely. The papers are shredded and prepared for recycling.

What happens to voting papers? (elections.nz)

We’re responsible for running New Zealand’s parliamentary elections - general elections, by-elections and referendums - and for keeping the electoral rolls up to date.

We work to provide an effective and impartial electoral system that New Zealanders understand and trust.

We advise political parties, candidates, and third parties on how to comply with electoral rules.

Our role does not include regulating the content of campaign advertising, broadcasts or media activity.

We can't enforce laws or prosecute offenders. If we believe a person or group has committed an offence under the Electoral Act, we'll report the facts to the Police.

About the Electoral Commission (elections.nz)