Why your vote matters
Local elections might not get the same hype as general elections, but they affect real-life stuff like how much you pay for rent, whether your bus turns up on time, how clean your beach is, and what kind of climate action your city takes. You’ll be voting for your Mayor, Councillors, and possibly your local community board. Your vote counts.
Think of it like this: local government = local decisions = your everyday life.
Enrolment 101
You can enrol as a resident if you:
- Are 18-years or older
- Are a New Zealand Citizen or permanent resident
- Have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more at some time in your life.
Unsure which address to use? Well, you can enrol at the address where you spend plenty of your time. You can also enrol at the last residential address you lived at for at least one month, even if that was some time ago.
You can also enrol while you are 17 years old, and on your 18th birthday you’ll automatically be enrolled and be ready to vote. It’s as easy as that.
How to enrol
You can enrol to vote or update your enrolment details at vote.nz. Enrolling only takes 30 seconds to do online at the Electoral Commission website.
You can also:
- email enrol@vote.nz
- call 0800 36 76 56, or
- freetext your name and address to 3676.
The last day to enrol to cast an ordinary vote is 1 August 2025 – otherwise you can enrol after this date (up until 10 October 2025), but you’ll need to cast a special vote.
Enrolment packs
If you’re enrolled to vote for the Parliamentary elections, then you’re automatically enrolled for local elections too.
If you’re enrolled, you would have received an enrolment update pack in the mail in early April. If all your details are correct, then you don’t need to do anything. If you didn’t receive an enrolment update pack, you’re either not enrolled, or you need to update your address or enrolment details – visit the Electoral Commission website.