Voting to continue past 7pm if required, issue with online enrolment system fixed, says Electoral Commission

There were reports of large queues at some polling booths around 11am. Photo / NZ Herald

An issue with the electronic version of the electoral roll that caused delays at some voting booths across the country today has been fixed, the Electoral Commission says.

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And anyone in line at a voting place at 7pm will be able to vote, they say, with “a large number of people coming out to vote” today.

“The app is used to look up people who don’t have their EasyVote card or don’t know which electorate they are in,” an Electoral Commission spokesperson said.

“The issue has had no impact on most people’s voting experience, but caused some delays for people casting a special vote at some of our busiest voting places.

“Separate to this, there have been queues at some voting places today due to high demand, and additional staff have been brought in to support our busiest voting places. Between 11am and 2pm are usually the busiest times to vote on election day.”

Multiple sources around the country earlier reported the electronic roll was not working at some polling booths - including in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch - meaning workers had to look people up in printed roll books.

There were reports of large queues at some polling booths around 11am.

At an Auckland Central polling booth on Elliot St, a Herald reporter casting a special vote was told it appeared the system for looking people up electronically was down, and workers were having to look some people up in printed rolls.

Despite this, there was a wait of just 10-15 minutes before the special vote was able to be cast.

More than 2300 voting places are open until 7pm today, a similar number to previous elections.