Voting in the 2026 general election closes at 7pm on Saturday 7 November. Results will start appearing on the Electoral Commission's results website, electionresults.govt.nz, from 7pm that night. But the numbers you see on Saturday are not the final result.
The Electoral Commission says it expects to publish the official results on Friday 27 November, almost three weeks later.
What you will see on election night
The figures released on Saturday night are preliminary results. They come from ordinary votes counted at voting places.
The Electoral Commission's targets are:
- results from 50 percent of voting places by 10pm
- results from 95 percent of voting places by 11.30pm
The commission stresses these are targets, not guarantees.
Preliminary results do not include special votes or overseas votes. That is why parties often avoid declaring a final outcome on election night when the race is close.
What is a special vote?
According to an RNZ explainer, you cast a special vote if, for example:
- you are not on the electoral roll at the place you vote, such as when you vote outside your electorate
- you are on the unpublished roll
- you live overseas
- you could not get to a voting place and voted another way
Anyone who enrolled after the printed roll closed on 4 October also votes by special vote.
Special voters fill in a declaration with their name, the reason for the special vote and their signature. RNZ reports the Electoral Commission says an occupation field on some older forms is no longer required and can be left blank.
Why it takes so long
Each special vote has to go back to the electorate it was cast for, and the declaration is checked to confirm the voter is enrolled and eligible before the vote is counted. Overseas votes are allowed 10 days to arrive.
The Electoral Commission told RNZ it expects around 700,000 special votes this year, and that they take up to ten times longer to check and count than ordinary votes. In 2023, more than 600,000 special votes were issued, about 21 percent of all voters.
Can special votes change the result?
They have before. RNZ reports that at the 2017, 2020 and 2023 elections, National lost two seats once special votes were counted, and some electorates changed hands between the preliminary and final counts.
In 2023, 15,555 special votes were disallowed. The most common reason, by far, was that the person was not enrolled. Other reasons include a late vote, or a declaration that was not signed by the voter or by an authorised witness.
This year, the rules are tighter. Under the Electoral Amendment Act 2025, enrolment closed 13 days before election day, so you can no longer enrol on the day and vote. Massey University politics professor Richard Shaw told RNZ he expects a higher rejection rate for special votes as a result.
What this means for you
If you have not voted yet and are enrolled, you can vote at any voting place up to 7pm on Saturday. Voting in your own electorate is quicker and avoids a special vote.
If you are watching results with family on Saturday night, treat the numbers as a strong early picture rather than the final word, especially for close electorate races and parties near the 5 percent threshold.
For more on how to vote this week, see our guide to voting on election day. We have also written about language support for older Asian voters.
Sources: Electoral Commission (electionresults.govt.nz); RNZ.
