NZ election 2026: the date, advance voting and where to vote

The key dates

Wednesday 21 October: overseas voting and telephone dictation voting start.

Sunday 25 October, midnight: the last chance to enrol or update your address. You cannot enrol at a voting place this election.

Monday 26 October: advance voting starts across New Zealand.

Saturday 7 November: election day. Voting places are open from 9am to 7pm.

Enrol by 25 October

This is the date to watch. Unlike recent elections, you cannot turn up and enrol on the day, so if you are not on the roll by midnight on Sunday 25 October you will not be able to vote.

You can enrol or update your address online at vote.nz with a New Zealand driver licence, passport or RealMe verified identity. The Electoral Commission is also running drop-in enrolment hubs in shopping malls and other places, listed on vote.nz.

If you have moved since the last election, check your address. More detail on rolls, eligibility and voting from overseas is in our enrolment guide.

Advance voting from 26 October

You do not have to wait for election day. Advance voting opens on Monday 26 October, and it is often quicker than queuing on the Saturday.

The days and hours advance voting places are open vary from place to place, so check before you go.

Where to vote

There are more than 2,300 voting places on election day, in community halls, schools, shopping malls, places of worship, tertiary campuses and marae.

To find yours, use the map on vote.nz, look for the list of nearby voting places displayed at your local supermarket or library, or call the Electoral Commission free on 0800 36 76 56. If you cannot get to a voting place, call that number and ask about other ways to vote.

More than 220 are Whare Pōti Māori voting places, including 67 where you can vote in te reo Māori or English. 1,679 are fully accessible, six have New Zealand Sign Language interpreters, and three have quiet times.

Your EasyVote card

If you were enrolled by 4 October, your EasyVote card is being sent by email or post from 14 October. It lists the candidates in your electorate.

Take it with you, on your phone or printed, and it makes finding you on the roll quicker. You do not need it to vote. Genuine EasyVote emails come from no-reply@easy.vote.nz, and follow-up texts from 5101.

What you are voting for

You get two votes. The party vote decides how many seats each party gets in Parliament. The electorate vote chooses your local MP. Our guide to how MMP works explains why the party vote matters most.

Seventeen registered parties and 530 candidates are standing this year. Six are in Parliament now: National, Labour, the Greens, ACT, NZ First and Te Pāti Māori. Opportunity is polling close to the 5% threshold.

Before you go

If you are still deciding, the NZVoteCheck quiz takes about five minutes. It compares your answers with what each party in Parliament has published and shows the source for every position, so you can check the evidence yourself.

You can also compare every party's policies side by side, or start from the home page.