Want to vote in 2026? You'll need to enrol by October — or miss out

The Electoral Commission has started its voter-education campaign for the 2026 General Election, bringing back the familiar orange mascots — the "Orange guy" and "Orange pup" — on TV, radio, social media and billboards.

The main message is simple: you must be enrolled to vote by midnight on 25 October 2026, or you will not be able to vote. That is 13 days before election day, which is Saturday 7 November 2026. Advance voting — where you can vote early — starts the next day.

Karl le Quesne, the Commission's CEO, is leading the campaign alongside board chair Simon Moore. The Commission is encouraging people to enrol by 4 October so their name appears on the printed voter list, which makes voting easier. If you miss that date but enrol before 25 October, you are still enrolled. But if you enrol later than that, you will need to fill in extra paperwork called a special declaration vote. A recent law change also means you must be enrolled before advance voting begins.

At the time the campaign launched, about 3.6 million people were enrolled — roughly 89 percent of those eligible. That leaves about 440,000 people who can vote but have not enrolled. About 200,000 of them — nearly half — are under 25.

The Commission has also decided not to count how many people are turned away from voting places because they are not enrolled. This was first reported by Newsroom on 3 August. The Commission says its post-election survey is a better way to find out how many people were turned away, rather than counting them at the time.

The bigger picture here is that this election works differently from previous ones. Under the old rules, you could enrol at a voting place on election day and still vote. That is no longer possible. If you are not enrolled by 25 October, you cannot vote in this election — full stop. For the 440,000 people not yet enrolled, many of them young, the time to act is short and the result of doing nothing is final.

Not counting turnaways at voting places also makes it harder to know how many people showed up to vote but could not. There will be no live data on that. The survey the Commission is relying on comes out after the election result is declared, so parties, campaigners and observers will not be able to measure the impact in real time.

The Commission is using several ways to reach people. It is using data matching with other government agencies to encourage enrolment. It is also running "Kids Voting – Te Pōti a Ngā Tamariki", a programme that lets young New Zealanders learn about elections, parties and candidates. Teaching resources for schools, materials for adult learners, and brochures and posters for communities are being distributed.

You can enrol, check or update your details online at vote.nz, or call 0800 36 76 56 to get an enrolment form sent to you. Forms should be returned to the Electoral Commission as soon as possible.

The 2026 General Election is on Saturday 7 November. The campaign will run through the enrolment period and into advance voting, with the Orange guy and Orange pup appearing until voting closes.