Enrolment falls to 93.6 percent as law expert points to rule change

Provisional figures from the New Zealand Electoral Commission show 93.6 percent of the eligible population is enrolled to vote. That is 3,790,946 people, down from 94.7 percent in 2023, according to RNZ.

The fall follows a change to electoral law that stops people enrolling on election day or during the advance voting period, the days before polling day when people can already cast their votes. Under the change, the deadline to enrol was midnight, 25 October.

Andrew Geddis, a law professor at Otago University who has written a book on electoral law, told RNZ there is a "pretty strong correlation" between the change and the lower enrolment rate. He also said the change had removed the rights of 40,000 people without good enough justification.

The Electoral Commission said that reaching 94.7 percent enrolment would have meant around 40,000 extra people enrolled.

The provisional enrolment rate for 18- to 24-year-olds is 74.2 percent, compared with 77 percent in 2023. Enrolment among young people had been just over 50 percent in July. It has since risen by more than 20 percentage points, representing 85,000 people.

In New Zealand, anyone over 18 who is eligible is legally required to enrol to vote. The commission publishes enrolment statistics every month, showing how many people are currently enrolled.

Total voter turnout at the 2023 election was 77.5 percent of those enrolled.