How to check your enrolment
The Electoral Commission says people can go online to vote.nz to enrol, check or update their enrolment details or call a free phone number for help.
“We’ve heard some concerns that people have been unable to find their enrolment record on our website. We have checked and there are no technical issues with our enrol online system,” says Anusha Guler, Deputy Chief Executive Operations.
“If you’re Māori, I also want to assure you that your roll choice – Māori roll or general roll – is up to you. We won’t put you on either roll by default and we won’t change your roll without your permission.”
If you can’t find your enrolment record, it might be because you’re not enrolled or you’re on the unpublished roll. There are a few other reasons why your enrolment record might not come up immediately or might not be available on vote.nz.
“When you look up your details on vote.nz your search must exactly match the name and address we have on our records. The same goes for verifying your information with ID - the names on your enrolment record and your ID must match exactly,” says Anusha Guler.
“If we lose touch with you – for example if we get returned mail from an old address – we will try to contact you by email or text to ask you to update your details. If we can’t contact you or don’t hear back from you, you may be put on the dormant roll.
“If you’re on the dormant roll, your record won’t show up on vote.nz, but you’ll be re-enrolled as soon as you fill in an enrolment form with your current address.
“If you’ve got any concerns about your enrolment, please get in touch with our enrolment team on 0800 36 76 56 or enquiries@elections.govt.nz and they can check your enrolment.”
Enrolling for the local elections
"It’s important to be enrolled at the address where you live by 1 August to get your voting papers for the local elections in the mail,” says Anusha Guler.
“If you enrol or update your address from 1 August, you can still vote, but you’ll need to contact your council and cast a special vote."
If you are Māori, you choose the Māori roll or the general roll when you first enrol to vote. After that, you can change rolls at any time except in the three months before an election.
"During these 3 months before the local elections, you won’t be able to change from the Māori roll to general roll, or general roll to Māori roll. Applications to change rolls will be processed after the local elections."