How to enrol & vote

Voting in New Zealand is free, secret, and only takes a few minutes. Here’s how it works from start to finish.

1. Check you can vote

You can vote if you’re 18 or over and a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident who has lived here at some point for more than a year.

2. Enrol

You need to be on the electoral roll. Enrolling is free at vote.nz — and you can now enrol right up to and including election day.

3. Vote

You can vote early (advance voting opens about two weeks before) or on election day. Go to any voting place, give your name, and you’ll get your voting paper. Then make your two ticks — try the demo below.

Try it yourself

Test what you learned