23 Mar 2015

Record early Northland by-election voting

2:20 pm on 23 March 2015

Record numbers of Northland voters have cast their votes in advance of Saturday's by-election.

Crowd at Kaikohe RSA to meet Northland by-election candidates.

Crowd at Kaikohe RSA to meet Northland by-election candidates. Photo: RNZ / Lois Williams

Early voting figures were more than double those for the general election last September.

By last Friday, more than 5500 Northland people had voted - more than 10 per cent of enrolled voters. Most made their choice last week.

As well as the unusually high early turnout, electoral officials said there had also been a spike in new enrolments for the general roll since the Northland by-election was announced in February.

The Electoral Commission is reminding people they have until Friday to enrol to vote, if they were not already on the electoral roll.