Electoral Act 1993

Elections - Candidates’ meetings

154: Use of public schoolrooms for election meetings

You could also call this:

"Using school rooms for free to meet voters during elections"

If you are a candidate in an election, you can use a room in a public school for free to hold a meeting with voters. You can use the room after school hours, but you have to pay for lighting, heating, and cleaning. You also have to fix any damage you cause. You need to give the school three days' notice before you hold your meeting. The school will let you use the room in the order they receive your application. If you have already used a room and another candidate wants to use it, you cannot use it again at the same time. If you hold a meeting that is not a public meeting, you and the person who organised it can be fined up to $1,000. In this case, a candidate is someone who has said they want to be a candidate in a newspaper, or at a public meeting, or by agreeing to be nominated. It also includes someone whose name is on a list submitted under section 127.

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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=DLM309683.

Topics:

Government and voting > Elections

153H: How application under section 153G to be dealt with, or

"What happens when someone asks to remove a candidate who can't continue in an election"

155: Power to appoint polling places, or

"Where you can vote: the Electoral Commission chooses polling places"

Part 6Elections
Candidates’ meetings

154Use of public schoolrooms for election meetings

Any candidate at an election may, for the purpose of holding public meetings of electors for electoral purposes during the period of an election, use free of charge, other than the cost of lighting and heating, and of cleaning after use, and of repairing any damage done, any suitable room in any public primary school or intermediate school or secondary school after the ordinary school hours, subject to the following provisions:
3 days’ notice of the proposed public meeting shall be given to the governing body of the school:
the use of the school shall be granted in the order of receipt of applications by or on behalf of the candidates:
no candidate shall have the use of the same room on a second occasion if any other candidate who has not before used it desires to make use of it at the same time under this section.

If it is proved that any such meeting was not a public meeting within the meaning of this section, the person by whom and the candidate on whose behalf the meeting was convened shall each be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.
For the purposes of this section, the term candidate means—
any person who has declared his or her intention of becoming a candidate either by advertisement in a newspaper, or by circular, or by announcement at a public meeting, or by duly consenting to nomination, but does not include a candidate who has withdrawn his or her nomination; or
any person whose name has been included in a list submitted under section 127.

Notes

Section 154(2): amended, on 1 July 2013, by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).