Email and text reminders - Māori Electoral Option
Voters of Māori descent are being sent email and text message reminders about the 6 August deadline to change electoral rolls before this year’s General Election.
“In April we sent letters to all enrolled Māori voters about the choice between the general roll and the Māori roll. If you’ve given us your email address or phone number, you’ll get a follow up email or text this month reminding you of the deadline to change rolls,” says Hone Matthews, Chief Advisor Māori.
“You can enrol, update your address, or change rolls at vote.nz, or by filling in an enrolment form. If you received a letter in April, you can also sign and date the letter and send it back to change rolls.”
Māori voters who would like to switch rolls from the Māori roll to general roll, or the general roll to the Māori roll, need to make the change before midnight Thursday 6 August.
“If you’re happy with the roll you’re on, you don’t need to do anything.
“You can’t change rolls in the three months before the election, so if you’d like to change the roll you’re on, make sure you do it before the deadline,” says Hone Matthews.
Visit vote.nz for more information or call 0800 36 76 56 to ask for an enrolment form to be sent to you.
Emails and text messages
Email reminders from the Electoral Commission will be sent from no-reply@easy.vote.nz and text messages from the number 5101.
For more information visit vote.nz/meo-letter
Roll changes
Between 31 March and 30 June:
- 4731 people changed from the general roll to the Māori roll
- 5113 people changed from the Māori roll to the general roll
- There were 3381 new enrolments on the Māori roll
- There were 2087 new enrolments on the general roll
- 15,018 people took the opportunity to update their details, for example their address, but didn’t change rolls.
Key dates
| 31 March | Māori Electoral Option letters sent by post |
| 29 - 30 June | Email reminder and texts sent to small group to test systems |
| 6 – 19 July | Email reminder and texts sent to more than 300,000 Māori voters |
| 21 – 24 July | Text reminders sent |
| 6 August | Last day to change roll types before the 2026 General Election |
| 7 August – 7 November | Three-month period when Māori who are already enrolled cannot change roll types. Māori who are not enrolled yet can still enrol and make their roll choice up until 25 October |
| 4 October | Enrol by 4 October to get an EasyVote card by post or email which makes voting faster and easier |
| 25 October | Last day to enrol to vote in the 2026 General Election |
| 7 November | Election day |
A media kit with information for journalists on the 2026 General Election and the Māori Electoral Option is available at https://elections.nz/media-and-news/media-resources/