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Up to 200 people are being sought to help voting go smoothly in Southland on election day.
The electorate includes Gore, Mataura, Winton, Lumsden, Te Anau, the Catlins and some of Central Otago, such as Queenstown and Arrowtown.
The Electoral Commission is looking for paid staff to work in the 61 voting locations in Southland, which has about 60,000 eligible voters.
Applications opened in July and will stay open until election day.
Advance voting starts on October 26, and the last day to vote will be November 7.
Successful applicants could work at electorate headquarters, at a voting place, or both.
Electoral Commission recruitment and rostering manager Felicity Williams said the roles would be rewarding.
“It’s just really great to be part of a team and be part of something that is actually really important to New Zealand,” Ms Williams said.
“And it’s also . . . a bonus that they can make some extra money.”
The commission would need at least three staff at each voting place and more would be beneficial for larger stations, in places like Queenstown, to make sure voting ran smoothly, Ms Williams said.
For people interested in managing a voting place, experience in leadership would be useful, but was not required, Ms Williams said.
Staff will be fully trained on a weekend in October, and will start in November.
All of the roles available throughout the country included voting place managers, voter assistants and issuing officers, who issued voting papers.
Roles at headquarters or processing centres included roles which supported the electorate manager, team leaders, mobile support, or driving around the electorate to support various voting places and a voting services manager.
Post-election positions were also available, which included a post-election manager and process leader, who helped lead the counting process.
The commission needed to recruit 22,000 people throughout the country, to staff over 2000 voting places.
In the last general election in 2023, the Southland electorate had close to 40,000 votes cast.
To be eligible to vote in this year’s election, voters must be enrolled by October 26, 12 days out from election day.
The Electoral Commission is also looking for headquarter staff for the Invercargill electorate.
“We’re . . . coming together as a team to be able to help people have their say,” Ms Williams said.