The countdown is on to election day - October 14.

Early voting has been popular, with queues reported at local voting places and 722,713 people had voted nationwide by the end of October 9. 

Numbers are well below early voting for the 2020 General Election, but 2020 was an outlier of a year because of Covid and all the allowances that had to be made for that. This year’s early voting numbers are slightly above the 2017 figures.

For those who like numbers, Vote NZ shows in Southland, 46,392 voters are registered on the general roll and 1524 on the Māori roll. In Waitaki, 50,856 voters are on the general roll and 1197 on the Maori roll.

Waitaki covers Cromwell and Manitoto in Central Otago while Southland covers Teviot Valley, Clyde and Alexandra.

Nationally, 3,241,359 people are registered on the general roll and 262,451 on the Māori roll. Of that latter figure, 38,344 voters have a say in the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tonga, which comprises all of the South Island, Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. It also extends into the North Island to include Wellington and parts of the Hutt Valley as far north as Avalon.

For those planning to vote in Alexandra, St Enoch’s Church Lounge is open as an early voting place but will not be in use on Election Day itself.

Visit the vote.nz website on where you can vote, or visit our locations section (live tomorrow) Voting