This page is about a bill. That means that it's not the law yet, but some people want it to be the law. It could change quickly, and some of the information is just a draft.

Referendums Framework Bill

Provisions relating to referendum - Counting of votes and declaration of votes

22: Procedure before returning officer starts preliminary count of early votes in general election

You could also call this:

"Sorting votes before counting starts in a general election"

Illustration for Referendums Framework Bill

When a general election is held, you will cast your vote. Before the person in charge starts counting the early votes, they must sort them. They need to separate the votes for the referendum from the votes for the general election. The referendum votes will be counted with the other referendum votes, as stated in section 23. This is what would happen if this proposed law is passed.

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This page was last updated on 25 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1028649.

Topics:

Government and voting > Elections

21: Referendum voting papers sent to returning officer before being counted, or

"Send referendum voting papers to the person in charge after the election"

23: Counting of referendum votes, or

"How referendum votes are counted and checked"

Part 2Provisions relating to referendum
Counting of votes and declaration of votes

22Procedure before returning officer starts preliminary count of early votes in general election

Before the returning officer starts the preliminary count of early votes cast in a general election under section 174C of the 1993 Act, they must separate the early votes in a referendum (if any) from the early votes in that general election.
The early votes in the referendum must be included in the counting of referendum votes under section 23.