If you enrolled prior to 1 August 2025, your voting papers will be sent from 9 September. 

Votes must be returned by 12 noon Saturday, 11 October 2025 (if putting your vote in the mail, please make sure you allow time for it to get to us).

You can post your voting paper in or place them into one of the Council’s secure ballot boxes — located in public locations, such as libraries, across Otago.

Who can vote?

You can vote in the local elections if you are on the electoral roll and live in the Otago region.

If you live outside the Otago region but own property here, you can also vote.

Make sure you are properly enrolled for Otago — this is really important if you have only recently moved here (students, this means you too!) 

Why should you vote?

By voting in your local body elections, you have your say on who will make decisions on Otago's future for the next three years. 

Otago Regional Council is responsible for promoting the economic, social, cultural and environmental wellbeing of the region.

Our work covers all of Otago and our focus is on the environment and natural resources:

  • setting policies and rules to protect Otago’s water, land and air resources
  • monitoring the environment – collecting data and knowledge to inform decision making
  • responding to environmental incidents
  • taking a lead role in pest management
  • taking an active role in minimising risks from natural hazards
  • keeping you safe along our coast and on our lakes and rivers through our Harbourmaster function
  • civil Defence Emergency Management
  • providing public transport in Dunedin and Queenstown (Orbus)
  • providing support to community groups for environmental enhancement
  • taking a lead role in responding to issues that affect Otago, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and urban development.

How to vote

  1. Have you received your voting forms in the mail?  
    • Yes: follow the instructions (for ORC you will rank the candidates, putting 1 for your favourite), then pop in the post before deadline, or find your voting location and pop in a ballot box
    • No: check if you're on the electoral roll. Whether you are or not, if it's after mid-September you will need to complete a 'special vote'.
  1. After votes have closed progress results will be available on electionz.com. It may take several days for the official results to be confirmed.
Voting in Otago Regional Council elections

28 August 2025
Talking Otago with ORC on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin

Listen to Amanda Vercoe, General Manager Strategy and Customer and Deputy CEO, outlining the process for voting in this year's local body elections. 

Who gets your vote?

Candidates have given information about who they are, what they stand for and why they think you should vote for them.

This information is on the candidate profile page.

They also attend different 'meet the candidate' events and interviews on local radio stations.

Once you've read the profiles, worked out who you want to rank #1, you're ready to vote! 

Special votes

A regular voting form is preprinted to ensure your vote is anonymous without duplication. While a special vote requires you to fill out a declaration confirming you are legally able to vote and are only making one vote. 

Some of the reasons people need to put in a special vote include:

  • you were not on the Parliamentary Roll before 1 August 2025
  • you are away during the voting period
  • you are on the Unpublished Roll
  • you haven’t received your voting papers by 19 September 2025
  • you spoil your voting paper and cannot make your voting intention clear

You can apply for and submit a special vote once voting opens, you don't need to wait until election day.

If you need to make a special vote, you will need to go to a district council (listed under special voting locations), fill out the declaration form, then complete your voting form. You can then post your vote in the mail or put it into an authorised ballot box. 

Voting locations (including for Special Votes)

Post Box locations

Ballots may also be posted from any NZ Post Post Box located across the region.

For help finding your nearest Post Box, use the NZ Post locator.

Please make sure you allow time for the post to get to us. 

How does Single Transferable Vote work?

 

Voters rank candidates in order of preference. Under STV, you would write “1” next to the name of your favourite candidate, “2” next to your second favourite candidate and so on until you have ranked your preferences. You do not need to rank all candidates, just those you prefer most.

You still only have one vote, but by showing your preference for candidates, your vote can be transferred if your most preferred candidate is so popular, they don’t need all their votes to cross the election threshold or is not popular with other voters.

In an STV election, candidates must reach a certain number of votes to get elected. This is called a quota and is based on the total number of votes and the number of vacant positions.