Enrolment deadline: Luxon and Hipkins urge voters to enrol

National Party leader Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins have both urged eligible New Zealanders to enrol before the enrolment deadline, which falls at midnight on Sunday 25 October, according to RNZ.

Under recent changes, people must be enrolled before that deadline to vote in the election. Before the changes, people could enrol and vote on election day. Labour has pledged to restore election-day enrolment, and has said eligible New Zealanders should be able to turn up, enrol and vote.

Enrolling means putting your name on the electoral roll, the official list of people entitled to vote. Hipkins said more than 300,000 eligible New Zealanders were not on the roll as of the last count.

Luxon denied that his government had disenfranchised voters through the changes to the enrolment deadline, which means taking away their right to vote. He has also said more people are enrolled right now than at an earlier point, rejecting opposition claims of voter suppression, RNZ reported.

Hipkins had raised concerns about disenfranchisement before the deadline. The Electoral Commission defended its enrolment efforts in response, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Chief electoral officer Karl le Quesne told TVNZ's Q&A programme that it was fair to say the enrolment deadline changes would affect the number of enrolments.

Voting starts on Monday 26 October, and election day is Saturday 7 November. Polls close at 7pm on election day, according to the Electoral Commission.