No voting place at Middlemore Hospital for 2026 election
The Electoral Commission has confirmed there is no voting place at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland for the 2026 General Election. Instead, the commission provides a mobile voting service at the hospital, the same arrangement it had in place for the 2023 election, according to deputy chief executive of operations Anusha Guler.
The commission said it will offer a voting service on Friday for Middlemore Hospital patients. It is also working with the hospital to identify patients who have been in hospital for more than four days as of 6 November, so they can be offered a special takeaway vote. Health NZ said inpatients who will still be in hospital on Saturday will be able to vote on Friday. There is no public voting booth on site at Middlemore.
Other hospitals in west and north Auckland have different arrangements. RNZ reported that voting stations were set up at Auckland City Hospital and Waitākere Hospital. North Shore Hospital does not have a voting station, but one is available around the corner.
Health NZ said voting places are open in the main foyer at Waitākere Hospital on Thursday and Friday, and at North Shore Hospital on Friday, each day from 9am to 5pm. Mobile voting teams will visit wards at Waitākere and North Shore hospitals on Friday to help patients who cannot get to a polling place.
Malcolm Mulholland, chair of Patient Voice, said every hospital in the country should have a spot where patients can vote. He said the lack of voting booths in hospitals is a denial of patients' democratic right to vote.
Across the country, the Electoral Commission has said more than 2,300 voting places will be open on election day. A full list of voting places will be published on vote.nz, and voting places are available from 26 October to 7 November 2026.
