Election 2020: Advance voting - half of New Zealand went to polls early

A man places his voting papers into the ballot box for the Wellington Central electorate during advanced voting for the 2020 New Zealand General Election. Photo / Getty Images

More than 1.7 million New Zealanders have cast their votes before election day tomorrow.

Electoral commission data shows that by the end of Thursday, 1,742,960 people had already voted.

That figure is well ahead of the 1.2 million who cast advance votes last election and means 50.7 per cent of the country's 3.4 million enrolled voters have already had their say.

The Electoral Commission expected advance voting would be up by 60 per cent this year, in part driven by the fear of another lockdown.

New Zealanders can vote tomorrow at one of the 2567 voting places which are open from 9am to 7pm.

Early votes will begin to be counted at 9am tomorrow at secure electorate headquarters around the country.

Once voting closes tomorrow, the manager of each voting place opens the boxes and counts the votes.

Preliminary numbers will start being released soon after 7pm tomorrow; 50 per cent of the results are expected to be available by 10pm and 95 per cent by 11.30pm.

The official count begins on Sunday and will include special votes, which can come in up to 10 days after election day.

The chief electoral officer will declare the official results 20 days after election day, on Friday, November 6.

Preliminary referendum results will be released on October 30, and final results declared on November 6.

While the political parties and candidates are campaigning frenetically today, all promotion must cease at midnight.

From midnight tonight, nobody can post or share any content that is likely to - or is intended to - influence someone's candidate vote, party vote or referendum vote.

That rule is not just for candidates and media, but extends to personal social media posts.

Those who breach the rules can face large fines.

According to the Electoral Commission you should not post a photo of your completed voting paper or use profile pictures, filters, or frames that support a candidate, party or referendum outcome.

You can, however, remind people to vote or tell them that you have done so.