Whānau living or travelling outside of Aotearoa can cast their votes in this year’s election from midnight tonight (NZT) until 7pm on election day, Saturday, October 14 NZ time.
“If you’re travelling or based overseas, you can still vote in the election. The easiest way to vote from overseas is to download your voting papers from vote.nz and return them by upload to the website. In 2020, more than 90% of overseas voters used this service,” chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne says.
“There are also 74 locations overseas where New Zealanders can vote in person, including 10 voting places in Australia.”
About 78,000 enrolled voters have an overseas address.
Eligibility rules have been temporarily changed for this year’s election to recognise the effect Covid-19 had on international travel.
Previously New Zealand citizens living overseas could vote provided they had been to New Zealand at least once within the previous three years. That has been extended to six years.
New Zealand permanent residents living overseas can enrol and vote provided they have returned to New Zealand within the past four years. Previously, the condition had been 12 months.
Voters must be 18 years or older and have lived in New Zealand for more than 12 months continuously at some time in their life to be eligible to enrol and vote in this year’s elections.
More information on voting from overseas, including the locations of voting places and the times they are open, can be found at vote.nz/overseas.
Telephone dictation voting
Telephone dictation voting also opens on Wednesday, September 27 for people who are blind, partially blind, or have a physical disability that means they cannot mark their voting paper without help. You need to register to use this service. More information is available at vote.nz/telephone-dictation-voting.
Voting places open Monday, October 2
Voting in New Zealand starts on Monday, October 2 and will close at 7pm on election day, Saturday, October 14.
“Voting places will be open before election day in convenient locations including shopping areas, transport hubs, kura, marae, community halls and sports clubs, to make it easy for people to vote as they go about their daily lives,” Le Quesne says.
“Voting before election day, also known as advance voting, has increased in popularity over the years. In 2020, 68% of votes were cast before election day.
“More than 400 voting places will be open on Monday, October 2. That number will increase as we head towards election day. The days and hours voting places are open before election day vary, so check before you go to vote.”
The nearest voting places can be found on a map online at vote.nz or by calling 0800 36 76 56.
“On election day Saturday, October 14, more than 2,300 voting places will be open from 9am to 7pm.”
“If you were enrolled by September 10, you should get an EasyVote pack in the mail, which includes a list of your local voting places. It also includes an EasyVote card, which will make voting faster at the voting place,” Le Quesne says.
It’s not too late to enrol to vote in this year’s election. Eligible voters can fill out an enrolment form and vote at the same time at any voting place, including on election day.
More information on voting in this year’s election is available online at vote.nz.
