Ten days to go! Time for a special vote?

There are just 10 days left to vote in the local elections!

If you have your voting papers now, then fill them in and pop them in a NZ Post box before Tuesday 7 October for your vote to be counted.

If you miss the postal deadline of 7 October you can still lodge your vote at a Mobile Ballot Box Tour location or a ballot box at one of our eight council service centres. Voting at a mobile ballot box closes at midday Saturday 11 October.

Don’t leave it to last moment – get your postal vote and special vote in now, or you’re not in the boat!

Who qualifies for a special vote?

You will need to complete a special vote if:

• You still haven’t received your voting papers in the mail
• Your voting pack is damaged or lost
• You are on the unpublished roll
• You’re travelling during the election period
• You haven’t yet enrolled
• You enrolled after 1 August
• You updated your details after 1 August.

Is this you? Then you are special and we want to help you make your vote count. Please contact the FNDC Electoral Office to request a special vote on 0800 922 822 or at specialvotes@electionservices.org.nz.

You can cast a special vote at any one of our eight service centres or at a location on our Mobile Ballot Box Tour. Only three ballot box locations will be open on the final day until midday (Saturday 11 October) to cast a special vote – our Kerikeri, Kaikohe, and Kaitāia service centres.

Before casting a special vote, make sure your details are correct on the electoral roll. A special vote requires a declaration to be signed by the voter and witnessed, if you have a photo ID please bring it with you.

Unsure about how to make a special vote and need to talk to someone? Our service centre and mobile ballot box staff are there to answer your questions about this year's election and help anyone wanting to enrol and/or vote.

Voting in an STV election

All the details you need about how to vote using Single Transferable Voting, who can vote and who is standing for election are available on our Local Elections 2025 webpages.

STV allows you to rank the candidates you choose in order of preference. To do this, on your voting form put a ‘1’ in the box next to the candidate you like best. Next, put a ‘2’ next to your second favourite candidate and so on. You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you like but for your vote to be counted, there must be at least a single '1' filled in correctly on your form.

You can see a demonstration of how candidates are voted in using STV here.

Māori Ward Poll

A critical decision this election does not ask you to rank options. All Far North electors will also be asked whether to keep or remove the Far North District Māori ward, and whether to keep or remove the Northland Regional Council Māori constituency. Decisions made in the Māori Ward Poll this year will be applied at local elections in 2028 and 2031. You can find out more about the Māori Ward Poll in an animation in te reo Māori and English here.