Labour leader Chris Hipkins has promised to reverse a new law that stops people from enrolling to vote on election day itself. He calls the coalition government's electoral changes "an indictment on the track record of this government."

Speaking to reporters after the post-Cabinet briefing on Monday, Hipkins said the Electoral Amendment Bill, passed in December, ended same-day enrolment. That means if you turn up to vote but have not enrolled beforehand, your vote will not be counted.

"Something that potentially disenfranchises tens of thousands of New Zealanders is not the sort of change that an individual government should make," Hipkins said, according to RNZ. He argued that big changes to how we vote should have broad public support, either through a referendum or agreement from both sides of Parliament.

The new law closes the electoral roll — the official list of registered voters — 13 days before election day. For the 2026 general election, scheduled for 7 November, the last day to enrol is 25 October. The law also banned prisoners from voting, allowed larger anonymous political donations, and clarified the ban on providing food, drink or entertainment at voting places, a practice known as "treating."

Hipkins said voters being turned away "is because of this government's decisions." Previously, you could sort out your enrolment when you arrived at a voting place. That is no longer possible.

The Labour leader also said the Electoral Commission, which runs elections, had not "done well on voter enrolment for several elections now." He stopped short of saying he would challenge an election result on those grounds, telling reporters he was "not Donald Trump" and would not claim the election was being stolen if discounted votes affected the outcome.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith dismissed Hipkins' claims as "just speculation." He said late enrolments had placed too much strain on the system, noting the final vote count used to take two weeks but took three weeks at the last election. Goldsmith also pushed back on the idea that the changes would affect Labour voters more than others: "It seems odd for him to suggest his own voters are inherently more disorganised."

The Ministry of Justice has said the changes were passed to make elections "more robust and effective" ahead of the 2026 election. The government said in April 2025 it had accepted a set of recommendations so voters could expect the election to be "more efficient, resilient and transparent."

Labour had raised the same-day enrolment issue before this week. A party press release from July 2025, titled "National is making it harder to vote," stated that "the National Party is changing the rules on same-day enrolment." The Electoral Commission has been promoting enrolment deadlines publicly since April, with overseas voting set to begin on 21 October.

The overseas voting changes are also significant. All postal votes for overseas voters must now be issued from and returned to overseas voting places, and dictation voting services are available to overseas voters who are blind.

The stakes here are straightforward. Same-day enrolment has been a safety net for voters who had fallen off the roll or never enrolled. Taking it away means voters must make sure they are enrolled well before election day. Hipkins says the government is deliberately making it harder to vote. Goldsmith says the government is just reducing pressure on the electoral system.

The broader question is whether a government should be able to change election rules on its own, or whether big changes like this should need wider agreement across Parliament. That debate has a long history in New Zealand politics, and it does not follow party lines. The coalition has acted within its lawful powers. Whether it should have sought broader consensus before changing how elections work is a question that will outlast the election itself.