Ensuring Every Voice Is Counted

How Anglican Parishes Are Loving Their Neighbours at the Ballot Box

Throughout our diocese, parish communities are rolling up their sleeves in a practical and vital way to help people enrol to vote.

From a sausage sizzle in Tītahi Bay to a student enrolment party with DJs at St Peter's on Willis Street, and from outreach tables outside St Michael's Kelburn to a stand inside the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, parish volunteers are taking part in "Enrolment Sundays" and holding events in their local community. These efforts aim to ensure no one in our parishes or surrounding neighbourhoods is left without a voice when election time arrives.

This collective effort is driven by an urgent reality. Statistics from the Electoral Commission show that during the 2023 general election, roughly 450,000 New Zealanders enrolled or updated their details during the voting period . Under previous rules, voters could enrol right up to and including Election Day itself. This year, however, introduces a critical change: a strict cut-off date for enrolments on 25 October, before voting begins.

Without the safety net of same-day enrolment, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis risk being disenfranchised, particularly students, renters, young adults, and those living on the margins who frequently change addresses or face barriers to accessing digital services.

Kate Day, from St Tom's Anglican Church in Newtown and Co-Director of Common Grace Aotearoa, ensuring local communities are enrolled is a deeply spiritual calling.

"As Christians, we are called to love our neighbours and walk alongside those whose voices are too often sidelined," says Kate. 

"Participating in our democracy is one fundamental way people can help shape the decisions that affect their daily lives, their families, and the wider flourishing of our communities. When someone's enrolment falls through the cracks, their perspective and needs risk being forgotten. By opening our church doors, setting up laptops after church, and hosting events in local community hubs, we are breaking down practical barriers so that every person's voice can be heard and counted."

At St Peter's in Whanganui, volunteers helped 29 people enrol or update their details at a single community event. In Tītahi Bay, local Anglicans fired up a sausage sizzle, and offered a free sausage along with the opportunity to check enrolment details. Many people stopped to do just that, with four sending in new or updated forms, among them a gentleman who hadn't voted since he was eighteen.

At the Whanganui event, a man in his fifties who had never voted enrolled for the very first time. "No one's ever asked me before," he said. "So I'll give it a try."

At St Peter's on Willis Street in Wellington, the Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association threw an enrolment party with DJs, free entry and free kai with the aim of increasing student voter enrolment. And outside St Michael's in Kelburn, three children appointed themselves chief sign-wavers for the afternoon, improvising a few enrolment-themed songs for good measure.

A few people holding events have found that their congregation is already enrolled, and that even people who have moved house have already updated their details, which is great! In these instances, it’s still been a valuable opportunity to talk to people and hand out "Remind your mates" flyers to help spread the word. 

The focus is not on telling people how to vote, but on ensuring that they can. In a world that often feels divided, the campaign is a practical expression of gospel care to advocate for inclusion and making sure civic participation has space for everyone.

As the 25 October enrolment deadline approaches, parishes are encouraged to keep up the momentum. Whether it's adding an enrolment reminder to your parish notices (find one here), hosting an afternoon tea with laptop stations, or partnering with a nearby community centre, every conversation helps secure someone's vote.

To learn more about how your parish can get involved, download community resources, or support your neighbours through the No Voice Uncounted campaign, visit commongrace.nz/novoiceuncounted.

Join the Common Grace enrolment webinar

Co-Directors Kate Day and Alex Johnston will host a special webinar for anyone passionate about supporting voter enrolment. You’ll hear stories of some of the wins from the current campaign and what more can be done.