Advance voting opens to queues and long wait times

Advance voting opened yesterday with long queues at some centres and shut doors at others, as opposition parties questioned whether the Electoral Commission had planned for demand, Henry Oliver writes in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.

Early voting opened yesterday, with long lines and low staff numbers at some polling places. Green MP Tamatha Paul called for the Aro Valley community centre in Wellington Central to stay open longer than planned, saying her campaign warned the commission after knocking on 1,780 doors in Wellington North over the weekend, The Post’s Anneke Smith and Tom Hunt report. Aro Valley has historically been among the strongest Green voting places in the country.

One voter interviewed by The Post arrived around midday, left for lunch and returned at 1.45pm, waiting up to 25 minutes. At the front he found two staff on the Wellington North and special votes desk and two on the desk for Wellington Bays and Te Tai Tonga. A friend who voted earlier said there’d only been one at each.

‘Looking like the voter suppression you expect from Trump

Former Labour minister Trevor Mallard, working on Labour’s campaign, posted on X that his local Wainuiomata booth was closed: “I always vote on the first day... It is a disgrace. Along with early roll closing it is looking like the voter suppression you expect from Trump or Hungary not here in Aotearoa.”

The Electoral Commission said 207 voting places were open nationwide on Labour Day, with some venues unavailable because of the public holiday. At Aro Valley it had rostered three staff and added three more as demand grew. “It is difficult to predict what sort of demand we will see on a public holiday but we are always ready to adjust as we go,” a spokesperson said.

The enrolment context

Sunday’s deadline to enrol to vote was the first under the government’s change closing enrolment 13 days before election day. The Post reported 92.05% of eligible voters were enrolled as of 21 October, up from 91.52% the previous Saturday but 2.65 points below the 2023 final rate – a gap of 107,368 people. Youth enrolment lagged furthest: 68.6% of 18- to 24-year-olds, down from 77.2% at the 2023 election.

Luxon, voting in Beachlands with his wife Amanda, defended the change. “Yes, we’ve moved [the enrolment deadline] forward 12 days but that’s in order, because that gives [the Electoral Commission] more time to get the vote counted.” He called Mallard’s comments “intemperate and disappointing,” saying the former Speaker was “very politicised and he's close with Hipkins.”

What you can and can’t do at a polling place

Campaigning is allowed during advance voting, but not inside voting places or within 10 metres of their entrances, 1News reports. Campaign material, election-related demonstrations and megaphones are banned in that area: “Don't influence voters or tell them to vote or not vote for a candidate or party.”

Free food, drink other than water, and entertainment are banned near voting place entrances during voting hours, unless provided by a business in its ordinary course of trade.

Supporters can wear party lapel badges or rosettes provided they show no candidate’s name and carry a promoter statement. Party colours are allowed on people or vehicles. Polling voters about how they voted is banned anywhere during the advance period. Inside, voters are asked not to film or photograph, and to leave straight after voting – publishing an image of someone filling in their paper is a potential offence. 

More than 2,300 voting places will open on election day, including more than 220 Whare Pōti Māori sites, 67 of them bilingual. There are 1,679 fully accessible places, New Zealand Sign Language interpreters at six locations, and three with quiet times. Chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne said voters can find their nearest place on vote.nz or from lists at local supermarkets, and should check opening hours before going.