The Official Information Act helps New Zealand citizens, permanent residents and anyone in New Zealand to access information held by Government agencies and independent crown entities, including the Electoral Commission. Its guiding principle is that information should be made available unless good reason exists under the Act for withholding it.
How to make your request?
You can ask us to provide you with any official information we hold. The easiest way to do this is by sending an email to oia@elections.govt.nz. Alternatively, you can send your request by post to:
OIA request
Electoral Commission
PO Box 3220
Wellington 6140
Please specify the information you would like clearly. The information you are requesting must be specified with 'due particularity' so that the Commission can identify the information you have asked for. If your request is not clear, we may contact you to clarify your request.
Make sure you include your name, email or postal address that you would like the information sent to.
Is the information I want already available?
We'll let you know if you request information that is already publicly available.
We regularly make information available about New Zealand elections, election results, enrolment statistics, and electoral rules.
We have also made it easy for you to access information about your own enrolment details.
Check your enrolment details
Enrolment statistics
Election results
How long will it take to respond to my request?
| Timeframe | Action |
| Upon receipt of request | We will send written confirmation of receipt of your request, usually via email. |
| Within 7 working days | We may contact you if we have any questions or need clarification on aspects of your request. If you amend your request, or we need to clarify your request and do so within the first seven working days, the 20 working day timeframe will begin again once the clarified request is confirmed. |
| Within 10 working days | If we do not hold the information requested but believe another agency might, we will transfer the request to that agency. We will notify you of the transfer. Transfers can be made in whole or in part. This will be specified in the notice you receive. |
| Within 20 working days | We must respond to your request as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 20 working days after we receive it. |
| We may decide to extend the time required to complete your request, by a reasonable period. If we do, we must notify you within 20 working days of receiving your request, via written notice to you. We will advise you of the new date by which you should expect the response. Reasons we may need to extend your request include: 1. the information you have asked for requires substantial research and collation, meaning we’re unlikely to have this completed within 20 working days 2. the information requires considerable collaboration between internal and/or external parties that may delay a decision being reached within 20 working days. |
Do you have to pay?
Not usually but there is a provision for a charge to be made. It must be a reasonable one. You should be told of the charge, or given an estimate, before the information is provided.
Charging Guidelines for Official Information Act Requests
Can information be withheld/declined?
Information must be made available unless there is good reason to withhold it. We may only withhold information for specific reasons set out in the Act. If this occurs, we will let you know why.
For more information refer to sections 6, 9 and 18 of the OIA
What if I disagree with your decision?
If you are unhappy with the response, contact us in the first instance to see if we can resolve the issue. You also have the right to complain to the Ombudsman. Information on how to make a complaint to the Ombudsman is available on the Ombudsman’s website.
Recent OIA responses
In the interests of transparency, we release responses to OIA requests every 3 months. We will publish the OIA response we send to you with your personal details redacted.