Early closure set to strip 80,000 voters from roll

The Kākā by Bernard Hickey · Oct 22, 2026 · 15m

One way to ‘win’ an election is to make sure your opponents’ potential supporters can’t vote at all.

It seems to be working for the National-led Government, which has carved two weeks off the time to enrol and vote, which will affect younger and more transient voters who might have been expected to vote for opposition parties.

There are 107,000 voters missing from the electoral roll with three days left before enrolment closes, which two weeks earlier than it closed in the 2023 election, the Electoral Commission reports.

In the last three days, the Commission enrolled an extra 21,000 voters…