Explainer - Today is the final day to enrol to vote in this year's election.

Changes this year mean that enrolment closes 13 days before election day on 7 November.

If you haven't enrolled yet, you've got until midnight today.

Being on the voter roll is important for several reasons - and while it's rarely enforced, it's actually legally required that you enrol to vote if you're eligible.

Democracy - it's important and it's the law!

Why is today the deadline? Can't we enrol on election day?

As of this election, you can no longer enrol to vote all the way up to election day.

You must be registered no later than midnight, Sunday 25 October.

How to enrol to vote:

Visit the Electoral Commission website and put in your details.

There are fears that the changes could reduce voter turnout, especially among younger voters.

As of Friday, 92.4 percent of those eligible were enrolled, but only 69.9 percent of those aged 18-24 were enrolled.

The Electoral Commission is also running in-person voter enrolment events through today.

"This weekend, we'll be at events around the country to help people enrol or check their details. You can also drop off an enrolment form at one of our hubs," Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne told RNZ.

You can find a list of those enrolment hubs here.

What else is the electoral roll used for?

The electoral roll isn't just a list of who's enrolled to vote. It's also an important data resource.

"Beyond allowing people to vote at national and local elections, the electoral roll is very useful to Government for a range of reasons," University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis said.

"It is used for jury selection, political campaigning purposes, and health and social science research."

The electoral roll contains your full name and home address and can be viewed at public libraries or Electoral Commission offices, and is also available for purchase.

"We do not release your date of birth, phone numbers or email address to the public," the commission says on its website.

But some of the information given to the roll can be released to other groups.

"The law requires us to give lists of people who are enrolled to vote on the published electoral rolls to certain people and organisations when they ask for them," Le Quesne said.

"These lists may have your personal information on them. This includes information that's not publicly available on the electoral rolls, such as date of birth or the age range you're in and whether you're of Māori descent."

However, there's also an unpublished roll you can request to be put on, which keeps all details private.

Information can be given to local councils for their elections, the Ministry of Justice for jury lists, Stats NZ and other organisations for research.

Political parties, candidates and MPs can also ask for lists of people who are enrolled for campaign uses - but the commission does not give out phone numbers or email addresses to them.

Did you know it's actually against the law not to be enrolled?

Under section 82 of the Electoral Act 1993, it's a legal requirement for anyone who is eligible to enrol once they turn 18.

The act states offenders might receive a fine of up to $100 or up to $200 for a second conviction if you don't have a good reason for not being enrolled.

But stand down - that basically never happens.

"There is a penalty but it's not just a matter of being unenrolled," said Le Quesne.

"It's an offence if a person knowingly or wilfully fails to apply to enrol - in other words really digs in their heels and refuses to enrol."

The Electoral Commission would much rather you just enrol, please.

"We're not aware of anyone being prosecuted for refusing to enrol," Le Quesne said.

"The Electoral Commission does not have the power to fine or prosecute anyone. We would need to refer a matter to police. It would be up to the police to decide whether any action is taken."

The courts also aren't likely to make a big deal of not being enrolled to vote.

"Enforcement of this measure requires a police prosecution in the District Court and I do not know of this ever occurring," said Geddis.

"I suspect the police have somewhat more urgent matters to attend to."

It's been compulsory to enrol in general electorates since 1924, and in the Maori electorates since 1956.

"The idea behind compulsory enrolment is that it is reasonable, in the interests of facilitating a healthy democracy, for the law to require those eligible to enrol," Geddis said.

"Making enrolment compulsory helps ensure the electoral roll is accurate and complete, which enables electoral officials to administer elections and to prevent and detect electoral manipulation."

Consider the law more of a friendly reminder, perhaps.

"The law effectively works more as a prompt to civic duty rather than a stick with which to beat people who fail to comply," Geddis said.

Does that mean it's mandatory to vote, too?

Actually, no.

"Enrolment is compulsory, but voting is not," Le Quesne said.

"Compulsory voting would then change voting from being a right, which people may or may not exercise, to a civic duty," Geddis said.

Across the ditch, it is mandatory to vote in Australia, where turnout typically runs about 90 percent for the last several federal elections. By comparison, 77.51 percent of those enrolled voted in our 2023 general election, according to the Electoral Commission.

An Independent Electoral Review conducted by the previous government was released in 2023, and recommended keeping compulsory enrolment on the books. It also looked at the lack of enforcement of that rule.

"There are good reasons for not strictly enforcing compulsory enrolment, including that strict enforcement may negatively impact people's experience of the electoral system," the report found.

That panel also looked at whether compulsory voting should be introduced as in Australia, but said it ultimately considered "that requiring people to vote may be a step too far, as it constrains freedom of choice."

* Parts of this story were originally published on 1 October.