Electoral Act 1993

Registration of electors - Removal of names from roll and alterations to roll

98: Removal of names from roll by Electoral Commission

You could also call this:

"When the Electoral Commission takes your name off the voting list"

The Electoral Commission must remove your name from the electoral roll in certain situations. You will be removed from the roll if you move to a different area and are no longer eligible to vote in your current district. You will also be removed if the Electoral Commission is satisfied that you have died.

The Electoral Commission can also remove your name from the roll if they think you have stopped living in the area for a month or more. If you are on the Corrupt Practices List, your name will be removed from the roll. You can be removed from the roll if you are disqualified from voting under section 80 or if you have been notified under section 81.

If you are a Māori person and you choose to be registered as an elector for a different type of electoral district under section 76, your name will be removed from the roll. The Electoral Commission will also remove your name if you are not a Māori and you are on the roll for a Māori electoral district.

You can be removed from the roll if you were registered by mistake, or because of a clerical error, or if someone gave false information about you. The Electoral Commission can put your name back on the roll if it was removed by mistake, or because of a clerical error, or if someone gave false information about you.

The Electoral Commission can correct mistakes on the roll and remove extra entries if your name appears more than once. They can also put your name on the roll if you were registered in the wrong district and your name was removed from the roll for the district where you should have been registered.

If your name is removed from the roll between the day after the election is announced and polling day, the Electoral Commission will add your name to a list called the list of post-writ day deletions. No changes can be made to the roll between the day after polling day and the day after the election result is announced.

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This page was last updated on 18 July 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM309122.

Topics:

Government and voting > Elections

97: Procedure on reference of application or objection to District Court, or

"What happens when someone objects to a name on the electoral roll and it goes to the District Court"

99: Notice of alterations to roll, or

"When your details change on the electoral roll, you get a notice telling you what's happened."

Part 5Registration of electors
Removal of names from roll and alterations to roll

98Removal of names from roll by Electoral Commission

Subject to subsection (6), the Electoral Commission must remove from the roll—
the name of every person who, consequent on a change in his or her place of residence,—
1. is not qualified to be registered as an elector of the district; and
2. resides in, and is registered as an elector of, another district:
the name of every person of whose identity the Electoral Commission is satisfied and whose death has been notified to the Electoral Commission—
1. by any Registrar of Births and Deaths; or
2. by the father, mother, or spouse, civil union partner, or de facto partner of that person or by a sister or brother of that person:
the name of every person who, as a result of an inquiry made at that person’s address on the roll, the Electoral Commission has reason to believe has ceased for 1 month or upwards to reside in the district:
the name of every person whose name is entered on the Corrupt Practices List made out for any district:
the name of every person whose disqualification under section 80—
1. is duly certified to the Electoral Commission; or
2. is notified to the Electoral Commission under section 81:
the name of every Māori person who has exercised the Māori option under section 76 and chosen to be registered as an elector for a different type of electoral district:
where the roll is for a Maori electoral district, the name of every person who is not a Maori:
the name of every person who has been registered for the district—
1. by mistake; or
2. by clerical error; or
3. as a result of false information.

Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the Electoral Commission, on being satisfied that the name of any person has been omitted or removed from the roll—
by mistake; or
by clerical error; or
as a result of false information,—

In addition to other powers of alterations conferred by this Act, the Electoral Commission may at any time, subject to subsection (6), alter the roll—
by correcting any mistake or omission in the particulars of the enrolment of a person:
by striking out the superfluous entry when the name of a person appears more than once on the roll.

The Electoral Commission may, subject to subsection (6), place a person’s name on the roll if—
the person has been registered as an elector of a district other than the district in which the person should have been registered; and
the person’s name has, under subsection (1)(h) or (i), been removed from the roll of the district for which the person was correctly registered.

Where, pursuant to this section, the name of a person is removed from the roll in the period commencing on the day after writ day and ending on polling day, the Electoral Commission must, on removing that name, enter it on a list to be known as the list of post-writ day deletions.
No alteration pursuant to this section shall be made to the roll for a district in the period beginning on the day after polling day and ending on the day after the day of the return of the writ.

Notes

Section 98 heading: amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(1) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(1): amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(2) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(1)(b): amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(3) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(1)(b)(ii): amended, on 26 April 2005, by section 7 of the Relationships (Statutory References) Act 2005 (2005 No 3).
Section 98(1)(c): repealed, on 25 March 2014, by section 45 of the Electoral Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 8).
Section 98(1)(d): substituted, on 18 March 2002, by section 31(3) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 1).
Section 98(1)(d): amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(4) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(1)(f)(i): amended, on 2 July 2020, by section 10(1) of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Act (No 2) 2020 (2020 No 34).
Section 98(1)(f)(i): amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(5) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(1)(f)(ii): inserted, on 2 July 2020, by section 10(2) of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Act (No 2) 2020 (2020 No 34).
Section 98(1)(f)(ii): repealed, on 30 June 2020, by section 8 of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 26).
Section 98(1)(g): replaced, on 31 March 2023, by section 12 of the Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Legislation Act 2022 (2022 No 62).
Section 98(2): amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(5) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(3): amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(5) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(4): replaced, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(6) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(5): amended, on 11 March 2020, by section 7(1) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 2).
Section 98(5): amended, on 21 March 2017, by section 43(7) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 9).
Section 98(6): amended, on 11 March 2020, by section 7(2) of the Electoral Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 2).