How to enrol to Vote

As a resident you can enrol to vote if you are 18 years or older, a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident or have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more at some time in your life.

If you are enrolled on the electoral roll you are eligible to vote in central government and council elections. You can enrol, check or update your details at any time at vote.nz  

Enrolment information is also available in:

Multiple Languages

Audio

Large Print

The Electoral Commission has a lot of useful, accessible resources in different formats.

There are two types of electors

Residential electors

If you are registered to vote in parliamentary elections, you will be automatically enrolled on the local body residential electoral roll as a residential elector at the address where you live.

You will receive a voting document so that you can vote by post.

Any changes to the residential roll, such as your address, should be made by:

  • Calling 0800 ENROLNOW (0800 36 76 56); or
  • Freetext 3676; or
  • Visiting the Electoral Commission website.

 

Ratepayer electors

A Council district includes a city, district and regional council area, and a community board area.

If you are on the electoral roll in one area and pay rates on a property in another area, you may be eligible for enrolment on the non-resident ratepayer roll. This qualifies you to vote more than once in the local elections.

You may be eligible as a non-resident ratepayer elector in Thames-Coromandel District if both of these apply:

  • You are on the district valuation roll and pay rates in the Thames-Coromandel District.
  • The address where you are registered on the residential roll is outside of the Thames-Coromandel ward or community board area.

Your eligibility to enrol or be nominated may also depend on your individual circumstances as determined by criteria in the Local Electoral Act 2001 and its regulations.

An organisation can nominate one of its members or officers to vote on its behalf

If a firm, company, trust, corporation, society partners, joint tenants and tenants in common collectively pay rates on a property in a council district, one of the groups may be nominated to be the ratepayer elector.

The person nominating and the nominated person must be registered as a residential elector outside the council district where the property is located.

You can only enrol once 

You can only enrol, or be nominated to enrol as a ratepayer elector, once in a council district, no matter how many properties you own in that council district. A council district includes a city, district and regional council area, and a community board area.

New ratepayer electors

If you have questions about whether you may be eligible to enrol or to nominate someone as a ratepayer elector, please contact the Electoral Officer dale@elections.co.nz

You can check your eligibility and complete an online enrolment form at Electionz.com.

 

Information in New Zealand Sign Language

 

   

Back to top