How to vote in Rotorua’s 2025 local and regional election

Voting closes in Rotorua's local elections on Saturday. Photo / File

Voting in the Rotorua local elections closes on Saturday, and residents still have plenty of ways to cast their vote for who they want to lead the district and region for the next three years.

Voting opened on September 9 and voting papers were sent out to enrolled residents last month.

For Rotorua Lakes Council, the mayor, three Māori ward councillors, six general ward councillors and four Rotorua Rural Community Board representatives are still to be decided at this election.

The rural ward seat has been decided, with incumbent Karen Barker returning unopposed, and a byelection will be held later for the remainder of the Rotorua Lakes Community Board, which had too few candidates.

Locally, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council has two Rotorua constituency seats to fill, and one vacancy in the Ōkūrei Māori constituency.

Who you get to vote for will depend on which electoral roll you are on – Māori or general – and where you live.

Rotorua Lakes Council building. Photo / File

A binding poll on Māori wards will take place alongside the district council election.

It’s too late to vote by mail, that deadline passed on Tuesday.

However, completed papers can be posted in an orange voting bin location before midday on Saturday.

Twenty voting locations with orange bins can be found across the district.

Voting locations

Rotorua

• Rotorua Lakes Council – Customer Solutions
• Rotorua Lakes Council – Te Aka Mauri / Rotorua Library
• Aquatic Centre
• FreshChoice Te Ngae
• Scion - NZ Forest Research Institute
• Paper Plus – Central Mall
• Woolworths Fairy Springs
• Pak’nSave Rotorua
• New World Westend
• Four Square Western Heights
• Mitre 10 Mega Rotorua

Ōkere Falls

• Ōkere Falls Store

Ngongotahā

• Four Square Ngongotahā

Mamaku

• Mamaku Grocery Store

Special voting

Residents who did not receive their voting papers, or have lost or damaged them, can still cast a special vote. This also applies to voters who enrolled after August 1.

Enrolled residents can cast a special vote by heading to the Rotorua Lakes Council building for both the district and regional elections.

Special voting is open between 8am-5pm on Thursday and Friday and from 8am until voting closes at 12pm noon on Saturday.

Today is the last chance to enrol to vote in Rotorua if you are aged 18 years and older, are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and live or own property in the electorate.

This can be done on the vote.nz website, or call 0800 3676 56 for help.

People cannot enrol on election day.

Remember ...

• Voting closes at noon on Saturday
• Post your voting paper in one of the 20 orange voting bins in the district
• No voting papers? Cast a special vote at the council building before 12pm Saturday.

Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in Britain for eight years.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.