Enrolment closes tomorrow night, with youth sign-ups ahead of 2023

New Zealanders have until midnight on Sunday 25 October to enrol or update their details for the 7 November election. After that the roll closes. This is the first general election without same-day enrolment, so nobody will be able to sign up during advance voting or on election day.

In December the government amended the Electoral Act 1993 to close enrolment 13 days before a general election, the Herald reported. Until then, eligible voters could enrol or update their details right up to election day. Advance voting opens on Monday 26 October, which is Labour Day.

People who have moved house face the biggest risk. According to 1News, voters who have changed address and miss the deadline could have their electorate vote thrown out. Their party vote will still count.

Under the old rules, many people left it late. In 2023 about 450,000 voters enrolled or updated their details during the 13-day voting period, the Herald reported. Of those, 110,000 did it on election day.

Electoral Commission figures reported by the Herald show 66.7% of 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled as of 17 October, up 3.3% since 7 October. That leaves about a third of the age group off the roll. Across all ages, an estimated 91.5% of eligible voters were enrolled. Rates were rising in every age group except 30- to 34-year-olds, where there was a small dip.

The Commission told the Herald that enrolment is ahead of where it was at the same point before the 2023 election, especially among young people, and that it expects the numbers to keep rising. The 2023 election finished with 94.7% of eligible voters enrolled, the highest rate since 2008. Turnout among enrolled voters was 78.2%.

"Our focus continues to be on getting people enrolled by October 25," a Commission spokeswoman told the Herald. "We have increased our advertising in electorates where the enrolment rates are low and we continue to provide in-person education and enrolment support across the country."

Labour leader Chris Hipkins isn't convinced. On Q+A, he said the Commission had "absolutely not" done enough to tell voters about the new rules, 1News reported. "I'm really concerned that we're going to have tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of people completely disenfranchised from this election," he said. He called the law change "a reckless decision by the current government".

Hipkins also said the Commission "probably haven't had the resources". But he said it had been "progressively doing less and less" during his time in politics, and recalled it once door-knocking "one street ahead of me". Asked whether Labour would accept the election result, he said: "Yes, absolutely." He said he did not want to go into "the territory that we've seen overseas" of claiming elections are illegitimate.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has made the government's case. When the law passed in December he said late enrolments had "placed too much strain on the system", 1News reported. The Herald quoted him at more length: "The final vote count used to take two weeks, last election it took three. If we left things as they were, it would likely take even longer."

In 2023 the Commission counted 603,257 special votes, or 20.9% of all votes cast, and disqualified 15,555 of them, the Herald reported.

Goldsmith called Hipkins' warning "just speculation from Mr Hipkins, which I disagree with". He added: "It seems odd for him to suggest his own voters are inherently more disorganised." He also rejected the claim that the Commission was doing too little, saying its advertising was "everywhere you go". "Look at the back of buses everywhere... people have a few more days. Get enrolled."

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon pointed to the Commission's budget. "They've increased the spending," he told the Herald. "We're just asking you to get registered 13 days before an election."

Since 1 April the Commission has run more than 2700 sessions, 1350 of them aimed at young people, it told the Herald. It has collected 28,700 enrolment forms and visited 282 schools and tertiary providers. It has also set up mobile enrolment teams and enrolment hubs in low-enrolment areas, given small grants to 36 groups, sent email reminders to voters for the first time and restarted data-matching to find people who aren't enrolled or need to update their address.

The Commission said it has enough funding and resources. It said it had "been a long time since teams were sent out door-knocking", and that targeted face-to-face work gives better value for money.

Labour MP Ayesha Verrall said several changes add up. "It's harder to get enrolled, it seems like there are more and more people on the so-called dormant roll, early voting starts on a public holiday which is always harder to get voters out on, and there are fewer booths," she told the Herald. Asked whether this was a deliberate strategy, she said she "wouldn't know what goes on in Christopher Luxon's head".

The Commission moves people to the dormant roll when it loses touch with them, for example when mail comes back. According to an Official Information Act response from the Commission, they can still cast a special vote. If they don't re-enrol within three years, the law requires them to be removed.

There were 113,402 people on the dormant roll at 5 August 2025, according to the same response: 98,703 on the general roll and 14,699 on the Māori roll. Between the October 2023 election and 1 August 2025, the Commission moved 53,180 people from the main roll to the dormant roll. Over the same period, 24,976 were taken off the dormant roll after three years.