Referendums
Referendums on the End of Life Choice Act 2019 and the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill will be held with the general election. There are advertising rules and spending limits for the referendums, similar to those for third parties at a general election. This page will help explain how the referendum rules apply to you.
Advertising and campaigning
All advertisments relating to the election in any medium will need a promoter statement.
From 1 January 2020, parties and candidates can't keep overseas donations greater than $50.
Enrolling and voting
People can enrol to vote online using their driver license, passport or RealMe verified identity.
Voters in New Zealand will be able to enrol on election day.
Prisoners sentenced to less than 3 years imprisonment will be eligible to vote.
Counting votes and releasing results
Referendum votes will not be counted on election night - we'll count referendum votes after election day. We'll release primary results (ordinary referendum votes) for each referendum on Friday 30 October.
We'll process and count overseas votes in Wellington rather than in the electorates.
The period for declaring the official results and returning the writ has been extended. After we count special votes, we'll release the official results for the general election and referendums on Friday 6 November.
Key dates for a party secretary
This table shows the key dates you need to know as a party secretary for the 17 October 2020 General Election.
Date |
What happens |
|
Monday 10 August |
Individual nomination forms, bulk nominations and party lists can be lodged from this date |
|
Tuesday 18 August |
The regulated period starts During the regulated period, any advertising you run to promote your party or an option on the referendum counts towards your expense limits |
|
Sunday 13 September |
Writ day You can start using your party’s broadcasting allocation to advertise on TV and radio |
|
Thursday 17 September |
Noon is the deadline to get your bulk nomination schedules and party lists to us |
|
Friday 18 September |
Noon is the deadline for electorate candidates to get their individual nomination forms to us, and for you or your candidates to withdraw any nominations |
|
Wednesday 30 September |
Overseas voting starts |
|
Saturday 3 October |
Advance voting starts. You can’t campaign with 10 metres of an advance voting place |
|
Friday 16 October |
The regulated period finishes You must take down all campaign signs before midnight |
|
Saturday 17 October |
Election day Voters can vote between 9am and 7pm. You can’t campaign on election day |
|
Friday 30 October |
Preliminary referendum results will be released (ordinary votes) |
|
Friday 6 November |
We declare the official results for the general election and referendums We aim to release the results by 2pm |
|
Thursday 12 November |
If there are no judicial recounts, we return the writ showing elected electorate candidates and declare the elected list members of Parliament (MPs) |
|
Monday 1 February 2021 |
The deadline for sending us your party's invoices for broadcasting allocation costs |
|
Wednesday 17 February 2021 |
The deadline for your candidates to send us their election expenses and donations returns |
|
Wednesday 17 March 2021 |
The deadline for reporting your party's election and referendum expenses to us |