Electoral Amendment Bill Submission Guide

Submissions close at 1pm on Thursday 11 September 2025

Everyone in Aotearoa should have their voice heard, especially when choosing the who represents us in parliament. However, this Government is breaching basic human rights and undermining our democracy by making it harder for thousands of people to vote.  

Voting is the fundamental way we decide who represents us in parliament, and who gets to make decisions over some of the most important issues in our lives. You can have your say on these proposed changes by making a submission on the Electoral Amendment Bill by 1pm on Thursday 11 September.  

What are the proposed changes and why do they matter? 

(You can use this information to inform your submission) 

The Electoral Amendment Bill will make it harder for New Zealanders to vote. Instead of restricting the right to vote, the Government should be making it easier, such as by following recommendations made in the 2023 Independent Electoral Review.

This bill will:

Remove the right to enrol to vote in the 13 days before election day, including the right to enrol on the day itself.    

• This denies potentially thousands of people their fundamental right to choose their government.  

• The Attorney-General's report demonstrates that this will further disenfranchise Māori, Asian, Pasifika and youth voters.  

• The Attorney-General's report also found these changes violate the Bill of Rights by undermining the right to vote.  

• In the 2023 General Election, nearly 100,000 people enrolled to vote in the last 12 days before election day. This bill would not have allowed these people to cast their vote.  

Make it easier for wealthier party donors to donate anonymously.  

• This will be done by raising the disclosure threshold from $5,000 to $6,000, undermining openness and transparency principles in our democracy.
  
• This increases New Zealand’s vulnerability to political corruption, and the influence of big money in politics. 

• Wealthy individuals and companies associated with the government’s fast-track projects gave more than $500,000 in donations to National, ACT, and New Zealand First. 
  
  
• From 2021-2023, people aligned with the property industry donated over $2.3 million to the three Government parties. This bill would make it easier for them to hide that information.

Bring back a complete ban on voting for people in prison.

• Right now, people in prison serving sentences of more than 3 years unjustly lose their right to vote, and this Bill extends the ban to all people in prison. 
  
  
• This is in breach of human rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, as established by the High Court, the Supreme Court, and the Waitangi Tribunal.  

• Māori will be disproportionately affected by this bill, being overrepresented in our prison populations. 

• This would exclude more of our population from participating in the democratic process, further alienating them from community and civic responsibility.  

• All people in prison should retain their right to participate in our democracy. 
  

Let the Government know your concerns around the new changes by making a submission today!

Submissions on the Electoral Amendment Bill close at 1pm on Thursday 11 September 2025 

Tips for making your submission 

Your submission does not need to be long or fancy - it can just be a sentence saying, “I oppose this bill”.  

Make sure your opposition to the Bill is made clear at the beginning.  

Use your own words to ensure your submission counts as your own – the same or similar submissions will be counted together as one submission.

Some recommendations can include:  

• Begin to implement the recommendations from the 2023 Independent Electoral Review, such as: 

• Increasing donation disclosure requirements 

• Capping donations and limiting donors to registered voters (not corporations) 

• Lowering the voting age to 16 

• Restoring voting rights to all people in prison. 

• Make it easier for people to vote, not harder.  
  

Make sure you’re enrolled to vote!

The last day to enrol to vote in the local elections is Friday 10 October 2025. 

Whilst you won’t get your local government voting papers sent to you in the mail (as the deadline was August 1st), you can contact your council’s electoral officer to make sure you still get to vote in this year’s local body elections!