Ensuring every voter is reached in 2026: a digital exclusion perspective
A joint briefing from DECA and Te Hapori Matihiko: 29 June 2026
Between the 3rd of May and the 25th of June 2026, the Electoral Commission changed how its website describes the way enrolled voters will receive information for the 2026 General Election.
We read that change to mean, post is not the default option now. We can’t find a public announcement of this change.
Where the Commission holds an email address or mobile number, information may be sent by email or text. Post is described as what you get “if we only have your postal address”. The Commission states this is “part of a move over time to modernise our services.”
On the current Vote.nz site we cannot find an option for a voter to opt into, or out of, email or SMS delivery. We cannot find a way for voters to choose their channel for information delivery.
The channel appears to be determined by which contact details the Commission holds, not by a stated voter choice. It is not clear to us whether there is any check that an email address or mobile number is current and belongs to the enrolled voter. We are unclear on the source of the email addresses and phone numbers the Electoral Commission holds.
We know that not everyone who has an email address or a mobile number can be reached through them. Inboxes go unchecked and passwords are forgotten. Numbers change. Both depend on data and devices that households cannot always afford. For New Zealanders affected by digital exclusion, a digital-first default could mean election information does not arrive at all.
These changes are visible on the public vote.nz site and in archived versions anyone can view.
The election overview page gained a new communications section. On 3 May 2026 the 2026 General Election overview page had no "Communications from the Electoral Commission" section. By 25 June 2026 it did, setting out the email / text / post approach above.
3 May 2026: https://web.archive.org/web/20260503072921/https://vote.nz/2026-general-election/about/overview
The voting information pack description changed. On 3 May 2026 the "what to do" voting page described a voting information pack delivered by mail, including how to vote, who the candidates and political parties are, when to vote, and how to find voting places. By 25 June 2026 the page describes an EasyVote card sent by email or post, and no longer lists candidate and party information.
3 May 2026: https://web.archive.org/web/20260503072921/https://vote.nz/voting/how-to-vote/what-to-do
25 June 2026: https://web.archive.org/web/20260625012729/https://vote.nz/voting/how-to-vote/what-to-do
We have written to the Electoral Commission. You can see the email below.
We are coming at this from the digital exclusion lane, because that is our work and where we can speak with evidence.
If you work in democracy, electoral participation, disability access, older peoples services, rural connectivity, or with any community this could affect, help us see the fuller picture.
This kaupapa is a joint effort between DECA and Te Hapori Matihiko. We are working together on this because reaching everyone, including the New Zealanders most affected by digital exclusion, is work that no one organisation does alone. If your organisation shares that commitment, we would like to hear from you.
We will update this page as new information comes to light.
Contact: kiaora@digitalequity.nz
Update: 29 June 2026: 6pm
Since we published this, we've learned where the change comes from. It's in the Electoral Amendment Act 2025, which passed in December last year.
The Act removes the requirement to communicate with electors by post. It lets the Electoral Commission deliver information "in any manner it considers appropriate." It collects email and phone details at enrolment, and it carries no guarantee of post for people who can't be reached digitally. There is no opt-in or opt-out for channel in the Act, which matches what we couldn't find on the site.
The Act also enables the Commission to update an elector's details on the roll using contact information disclosed to it under section 263B, without the elector starting that process. This is cross-agency data matching and it is a major concern.
The point we're making hasn't changed: the people most likely to fall out of contact, those without reliable email, without a reliable phone, without the digital access the rest of the system now assumes, are the people a digital-first default may never reach. This risks shutting people out of our democracy.
We're not the only ones who flagged this. The Independent Electoral Review panel raised the same concern, that online delivery works well for some but can be exclusionary and that any change has to be sensible and optional.
