Voting is your choice - but it plays a key role in our democracy. Your vote is important because the people elected are responsible for making decisions about what happens in our community for the next 3 years. They will make important decisions about our services and infrastructure - like our rates, roads, water and community facilities.
It's important to vote!
Election day is Saturday 11 October 2025, closing at 12noon.
Voting is by postal vote and starts on Tuesday 9 September and closes at 12 noon Saturday 11 October 2025. There's no online voting option.
Check you're enrolled to vote
You can do this online Enrol to vote
As a voter, you will elect
- 1 Mayor, elected at large
- 8 Tairāwhiti General Ward councillors or
- 5 Tairāwhiti Māori Ward councillors
Māori ward councillors are elected by those enrolled to vote on the Māori electoral roll.
General ward councillors are elected by those enrolled to vote on the general electoral roll.
The Gisborne District Council area is divided into 2 district-wide wards:
| Ward | Councillors | Resident electors |
|---|---|---|
| Tairāwhiti General Ward | 8 | 23,143 |
| Tairāwhiti Māori Ward | 5 | 11,597 |
| 13 | 34,740 |
Number of electors as at 28 February 2025.
Gisborne District Council is a unitary authority, there's no regional council elections.
Get to know the candidates
Candidate meetings will be held - you can attend and find out what policies the different candidates advocate for.
A candidate profile booklet will be available after nominations close. This will be on our website and you'll get a booklet with the voting papers.
Candidates may have their own websites, social media pages, videos, adverts and put information into letterboxes.
When voting opens
Post your vote
You should post your completed vote using any New Zealand Post box by Tuesday 7 October 2025 so it can reach us before 12 noon on election day, Saturday 11 October 2025.
Drop off your vote
You can drop off completed voting papers to any of the voting ballot boxes, before 12noon Saturday 11 October. Late votes won't be counted. The locations of the orange ballot boxes:
- Elgin – Shop N Save
- Gisborne
- Council's Customer Service, 15 Fitzherbert Street, business hours and voting day
- Paper Plus, Gladstone Rd
- The Warehouse, Customhouse St
- Kaiti – Kaiti Mall Fresh Choice
- Hicks Bay – KELB Hicks Bay General Store
- Matawai – Matawai Campground Store
- Ruatoria – Four Square
- Te Araroa – Four Square
- Te Karaka – Rangatira Motors
- Te Puia Springs – Te Puia Springs Service Centre
- Tikitiki - Waiapu RSA
- Tokomaru Bay – The Fish Shop
- Tolaga Bay – George and Mildreds Supermarket
- Drive through ballot box on voting day - location TBC
Q&As - special votes and voting papers
You can cast a special vote if you:
- haven't received a voting pack in the mail by 22 September
- lost or damaged your voting pack
- haven't enrolled to vote on time
- will be travelling during the voting period
- turn 18 on election day and provisionally enrolled
- are eligible to vote but your name does not appear on the final electoral roll.
Special votes - where you can cast your vote
Special voting documents can be obtained from:
→ Council’s Main Office, 15 Fitzherbert Street, Gisborne
→ Te Puia Springs Service Centre, 4746 Waiapu Road, Te Puia Springs
→ or by phoning 0800 922 822
→ or email specialvotes@electionservices.co.nz
All special votes need to be completed and returned to the electoral officer or an electoral official (at any of the above locations) by noon Saturday 11 October 2025.
If posting, send by Tuesday 7 October 2025 to ensure it gets back to the Electoral Office in time.
Special votes on voting day - Saturday 11 October
Council customer service, Fitzherbert Street
- Te Puia Springs service centre
- Tokomaru Bay Fish Shop
- 9.30am - Te Karaka @ Rangatira Motors
- 10.30am - Matawai @ Campground Store
Approx times for rural locations for special votes
- Hicks Bay @ KELB General Store on Tuesday 30 September 10am - 12pm
- Te Araroa Four Square on Tuesday 20 September 1pm - 3pm
- Tikitiki @ Waiapu RSA on Thursday 2 October 10am - 12pm
- Ruatoria Four Square on Thursday 2 October 1pm - 3pm
- Tokomaru Bay @ The Fish Shop on Thursday 9 October 10am - 12pm
- Tolaga Bay @ George & Mildred on Thursday 9 October 1pm - 3pm
You can cast a special vote if you:
Special voting pack includes:
- a special voting document
- a special voting declaration
- 2 envelopes.
Voting papers
Is it before Monday 22 September 2025 and you believe you're correctly registered on the electoral roll?
Yes - Please wait until the mail has been delivered on Monday 22 September 2025.
If your voting document is not received, then call the electoral office on 0800 922 822 and request a special vote.
Or
Is it after Monday 22 September 2025 and you believe you are correctly registered on electoral roll?
Yes - You'll need to apply for a special vote. See the special vote information below.
Or
Is it after Monday 22 September 2025 and you believe you are not correctly registered on the electoral roll?
Yes - You'll need to complete a Parliamentary Electoral Roll enrolment form. These are available online at www.vote.nz or phone
0800 36 76 56 to have one posted to you with a return envelope.
You will need to apply for a special vote. See the special vote information below.
Voting packs for the local elections will be posted out between Tuesday 9 September and Monday 22 September 2025.
If you're outside of New Zealand during the voting period (9 September to 11 October), you have 2 options:
- ask someone to forward your voting pack to your overseas address
- request a special voting pack, email specialvotes@electionservices.co.nz
include the residential address where you're enrolled to vote and the overseas address where you want the pack sent.
Keep in mind how long it might take for mail to reach you and get back to New Zealand.
Your completed voting pack must arrive to us before 12 noon on Saturday 11 October 2025.
Late votes will not be counted and local election voting papers cannot be downloaded electronically.
You can use an envelope of your own and put the return address and Replypaid number on it.
You won't need to put a stamp on the envelope, if you write the Replypaid number on the envelope and post it in New Zealand.
Replypaid number 4710
The Electoral Office
Gisborne District Council
PO Box 5135
Victoria Street West
Auckland 1142.
If you can amend it so that your voting intention is clear, then do so.
If necessary, we can issue you with a special vote, but this will take time and require you to complete a statutory declaration.
You will need to apply for a special vote. See information above on special votes.
Call the electoral office on 0800 922 822
Under the Local Electoral Act 2001, you cannot interfere with or influence any person as to how they should vote.
An elector who is physically impaired, visually impaired or for whom English is a second language, can direct a person to assist them to vote.
The person assisting must only act as directed by the elector.
Telephone voting will be available for electors with disabilities. To access this service, electors will need to call the electoral office on 0800 922 822.
How are candidates elected?
Gisborne District Council uses the Single Transferable Vote System (STV). Instead of putting a tick beside the candidates you want to vote for, you rank them with numbers.
Write the number 1 in the box next to your favourite candidate you most want to win, a 2 next to your next favourite candidate, then a 3 for the next person and so on.
Do I need to use the number 1?
Yes - you must write the number 1 for your vote to be counted.
If you want this may be the only number you write down.
Do I need to put a number beside all the candidates?
No, you can write as many or as few numbers as you like to rank your preferred candidates - up to however many candidates are standing for election.
You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you want.
You don't need to vote for all the candidates.
Do the numbers need to be in the sequence 1,2,3,4 or can I write them down randomly?
The numbers must be in sequence and there must be only one of each number.
Don’t write any number more than once, such as 1,2,3,3,4,5.
Don’t miss a number to rank your preferences.
This video explains STV voting and how it works
STV stands for single transferable vote and is a preferential system of voting where you can rank as few or as many candidates as you like. It is a single vote which can be transferred between candidates to maximise the chance of your vote contributing to the election of at least one candidate and not being wasted.
- If a popular candidate does not need all the votes they receive, a proportion is transferred to the voter’s next preference.
- If a candidate is not popular and receives few votes, those votes are transferred to a voter’s next preference.
In a STV election candidates must reach a certain number of votes to get elected. This is called a quota or an absolute majority (in the case of a single vacancy election such as the mayoralty). The quota is based on the total number of votes in that election and the number of vacant positions (technically a small fraction is added to avoid a tie).
Examples of how the quota is calculated: Ētahi tauira hei tātai i te rahinga pōti:
- In an election with three vacant positions and where there were 4,000 valid votes, the quota would be:
4,000 (votes) divided by 3 (vacancies) + 1 = 1,000
In this example, the quota would be 1,000. - In an election with one vacant position, the quota (absolute majority) would be:
4,000 (votes) divided by 1 (vacancy) +1 = 2,000
In this example, the quota would be 2,000.
The quota (absolute majority) is calculated before the first preferences are counted. It is then recalculated each time more vote transfers are required to enable more candidates to reach the quota and the number of valid votes has decreased because more votes have become non-transferable.
Read the handy FAQ guide for more information
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