Kiwis Overseas Time to Vote in New Zealand General Election Approaches

Kiwis living overseas who are enrolled to vote may start voting in the New Zealand General Election on Wednesday 22 October 2008, New Zealand Time.

For those of us living on the wrong side of the International Dateline that means sometime Tuesday, 21 October.

Voting continues through 8 November 2008 New Zealand Time, though again, that means for many overseas Kiwis the deadline is sometime on Friday, 7 November.

If you are not enrolled, you may still request a special declaration vote from the Chief Electoral Office at http://www.elections.org.nz

As of 16 October, the Chief Electoral Office estimates 93.7 percent of New Zealand’s eligible population is enrolled.

Kea New Zealand estimates that the enrolment percentage is closer to 79 percent when the 500,000 Kiwis living abroad are included, only 51,500 or so of whom had enrolled by 23 September.

In the 2005 election only some 28,000 overseas Kiwis voted.

It's time to step up and support democracy back home!

Kea New Zealand has set up Every Vote Counts, a non-partisan site to assist Kiwis abroad with voting procedures & to encourage them to vote.

The official Elections New Zealand website of the Chief Electoral Office is the place to download your ballot papers as well as to enroll for a special declaration vote if you are not on the printed rolls.

There are four ways you can vote if you are overseas on Election Day:

• Cast an advance vote. If you will be in New Zealand from Wednesday 22 October, you can cast an advance vote at any advance voting place.

• Download voting papers. If you are overseas and enrolled you will be able to download your voting papers from Wednesday 22 October. This is the quickest and easiest way to obtain your ballot paper. Ballots must be returned by fax or post. Email or other electronic submission is NOT accepted. The Chief Electoral Office fax number for ballots is +64 4 494 2300.
  

• Apply for a postal vote. You can apply to have voting papers posted to you. These are normally sent from New Zealand approximately three weeks before election day. This may not be practical now – there are less than 3 weeks to the election!

• Vote in person. You will be able to vote in person at a number of overseas posts.
  

See the official Elections New Zealand website for more details.

REMEMBER TO VOTE EARLY!

REMEMBER THE DEADLINE MAY BE SOMETIME ON 7 NOVEMBER IF YOU LIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE INTERNATIONAL DATELINE FROM NEW ZEALAND!