Early votes pass 1 million ahead of New Zealand's 7 November election

New Zealand's early vote has passed one million. According to the Electoral Commission's latest voting statistics, RNZ reported that 1,074,416 people have cast an early vote in the 2026 general election.

On 2 November alone, 159,994 people voted early. Reuters reported that nearly 1 million ballots were cast in the first week of early voting, which began on 26 October.

At the same stage of the 2023 campaign, 860,668 people had cast an early vote. By the equivalent point in 2020, the figure was 1,282,028. Early voting this year is therefore running ahead of 2023 but behind 2020.

Early voting lets people vote before polling day, which is set for 7 November. The window opened after enrolment closed at midnight on 25 October, according to the Electoral Commission.