You don’t have to wait until Saturday 7 November to vote. Advance voting for the 2026 General Election opened on Monday 26 October, and voting places across the country take votes every day until election day.
On election day, every voting place is open from 9am to 7pm, and voting closes at 7pm. Before then, the days and hours vary from place to place, so the Electoral Commission, which runs New Zealand’s elections, asks voters to check before they go.
Plenty of people are getting in early. The Commission counted 68,944 votes on the first day of advance voting, up from 65,845 on the first day in 2023. It posts updated daily figures on vote.nz until election day.
Finding a voting place on the map
The quickest way to find somewhere to vote is the Commission’s interactive map at map.vote.nz. Search for your address, then click the pins near you to see each voting place’s details and opening hours. You may need to scroll to see all of a place’s hours.
Buttons at the top of the map show places that are open now, today or tomorrow, and you can also filter by date or accessibility. If you’d rather scroll a list, the Find a voting place page on vote.nz lets you pick your electorate, such as Christchurch Central, Ilam or Selwyn, then narrow it by suburb or show fully accessible places only.
There were 207 voting places open on the first day of advance voting, and the number grows as election day gets closer, according to Karl Le Quesne, the Commission’s Chief Electoral Officer. More than 2,300 will be open on 7 November. Le Quesne suggests looking for a list of nearby voting places at your local supermarket during advance voting, or calling the Commission free on 0800 36 76 56.
You can vote at any voting place in New Zealand, but it’s quicker in your own area. Away from your home electorate, you’ll fill in a special vote declaration before you get your voting paper.
Enrolment has closed
Under the Electoral Amendment Act 2025, enrolment for a general election now closes at midnight 13 days before election day. For this election, that was Sunday 25 October.
The Commission says it’s no longer possible to enrol and vote on the same day. Nobody can enrol at a voting place during the election, election day included, and anyone who wasn’t enrolled by the deadline can’t vote this time.
If you’re enrolled at an old address, or you’re on the dormant roll, you can still vote, though you may need to make a special vote. If your new address is in a different electorate, only your party vote will count.
What to bring, and other ways to vote
Take your EasyVote card if you have one. “You don’t need an EasyVote card to vote, but it makes voting faster,” says Le Quesne. Without a card, staff will ask for your name and address, and you don’t need ID.
Voters overseas can download their voting papers from vote.nz, fill them in and upload them by 7pm NZ time on election day. Some can also vote in person at an overseas voting place.
Anyone who is blind, partially blind or has a physical disability that stops them marking a voting paper without help can vote by telephone dictation. You’ll need to register first by calling 0800 028 028 from within New Zealand, by noon on 7 November at the latest.
If you can’t get to a voting place, you can authorise someone to collect your voting papers for you, or ask your electorate manager about having papers delivered and collected. Rest home residents don’t need to do anything, because the electorate manager arranges voting with the home.|
Image credit: Electoral Commission
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