Media & news Te hunga pāpāho me ngā rongo kōrero

Voting in New Zealand starts on Monday 26 October for the 2026 General Election and will close at 7pm on election day, Saturday 7 November. 

“Voting places will be open before election day in convenient locations including shopping areas, transport hubs, marae, community halls and tertiary institutions, to make it easy for people to vote as they go about their daily lives,” says Karl Le Quesne, Chief Electoral Officer.

“There will be 207 voting places open on Monday 26 October offering 1,437 hours of voting. The days and hours that advance voting places are open vary, so check before you go to vote.  

“The number of voting places will increase as we head towards election day. On election day Saturday 7 November, more than 2,300 voting places will be open from 9am to 7pm.”

You can find your nearest voting place on a map at vote.nz or by calling 0800 36 76 56. 

EasyVote cards 

The delivery of EasyVote cards by email and post is on track for voters to have them at the start of voting. 

“You don’t need an EasyVote card to vote, but it makes voting faster. If you’ve given us your email address, you’ll receive your card by email. If we just have your postal address or you’re on the unpublished roll, you’ll receive it by post.” 

Enrol by midnight, Sunday 25 October 

“There’s still time to enrol or update your details if you haven’t already,” says Karl Le Quesne. 

“You must be enrolled by midnight this Sunday 25 October for your vote to count. You can enrol online at vote.nz using your New Zealand driver licence, New Zealand passport or RealMe verified identity.

“This weekend, we’ll be at events around the country to help people enrol or check their details. You can also drop off an enrolment form at one of our hubs. Locations and hours are available on vote.nz.” 

Enrolment forms can also be scanned or photographed and returned by upload to vote.nz/upload or emailed to enrol@vote.nz. You can also check your enrolment details at vote.nz/enrol. 

On 21 October 2026, with three days to go before the enrolment close, 3,729,667 people were enrolled to vote. The final number of people enrolled to vote for the 2023 election was 3,688,292 and the enrolment rate was 94.7%.