About the electoral agencies

SUBTOPICS

Chief Electoral Office

The Chief Electoral Office conducts General Elections, by-elections and referenda. The office is a division of the Ministry of Justice. In a General Election year, the Office employs Returning Officers for the 70 electorates. It receives returns of donations and election expenses from parliamentary candidates. It also provides information to voters, candidates and parties relating to electoral events. Read more »

Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission is an independent Crown entity which registers political parties, party logos, and third parties. It also receives donations protected from disclosure, registered parties and third parties' annual returns of donations and returns of election expenses, and it allocates election broadcasting time and funds to eligible political parties. The Commission also encourages and conducts public education about electoral matters. Read more »

Electoral Enrolment Centre

The Electoral Enrolment Centre maintains electoral rolls and conducts the Maori Electoral Option. The centre is a self-contained business unit of New Zealand Post Ltd, under contract to the Minister of Justice. The centre has a team of Registrars of Electors - one for each electorate. The Registrars are responsible for compiling and maintaining the electoral rolls for their electorate. As well as maintaining the electoral rolls on a daily basis and conducting enrolment update campaigns prior to all major electoral events, the Registrars also work in their local communities to encourage eligible electors to enrol. This is to ensure the maximum number of eligible electors are enrolled to vote in Parliamentary, local council and district health board elections, by-elections, referenda and polls. Read more »

Representation Commission

The Representation Commission is an independent statutory body that determines the boundaries of General electorates and Maori electorates after each five-yearly population census and Maori Electoral Option. The electoral boundaries were last updated in 2007. Read more »

ARTICLES

Link to our site and spread the word about enrolling and voting

Help spread the word about enrolling and voting - Add one of our images or flash movies to your web page and make it easy for your friends and others to find out about enrolling and voting. Read more »

Electoral agencies' areas of responsibility

This table outlines the different areas of responsibility for each of the three electoral agencies. Read more »

Consulting on...

The electoral agencies are always keen to hear from people with ideas to improve the services they are able to offer, and sometimes they will be seeking views on specific issues detailed here. Also listed are previous consultations and those of other bodies related to electoral matters, such as select committees inquiries. Read more »