Election results: What information to expect and when

The Team from Whangarei District Council

As soon as voting closes at noon on Saturday 11 October 2025, Electoral Services will be able to start counting votes. The results will be published in three phases as they become available.

1️⃣ Progress Results - around 3:00pm on Saturday
The very first indication of election results will be from the approximately 90% of ordinary votes that Electoral Services already have on hand to count. They won't include any Special Votes or the final collections from ballot boxes, so the rankings and outcomes may change as more votes are counted.

2️⃣ Preliminary Results – Sunday afternoon
By Sunday afternoon, all ordinary votes should be with Electoral Services and will have been counted. Preliminary results do not include any Special Votes, so they can also change when the final outcome is published.

3️⃣ Final Results
Once all special votes and ordinary votes are counted and checked, we will know the final results. This could be any time during the week following the voting deadline. Unlike the other two releases, final results cannot change - only the final results reflect which candidates have been elected to Council, and the outcome of the poll on Māori Wards. We’ll communicate these results as soon as they become available, but they are truly made final when a formal public notice is issued.

Each type of results will be published in this section of our website:
www.wdc.govt.nz...