2020 General Election

The New Zealand 2020 General Election is scheduled to take place from the 3rd – 17th of October.

English Language Partners has partnered with the Electoral Commission to assist English learners to understand and take part in the election process.

As part of this collaboration, we have created some teaching resources for English language learners, which we are happy to share with the wider community. The material is aimed at ESOL teachers and ESOL background students at elementary and intermediate levels of English. 

We have also provided links to Electoral Commission resources, and encourage everyone to look through the material below.

Please acknowledge the Electoral Commission when using these resources.

ELP General Election teaching resources

ELPNZ and the Electoral Commission are proud to share this teaching resource to help English learners understand and participate in the electoral process here in New Zealand. Click the link below to download the resource.

ELPNZ 2020 General Election Teaching Resources – Pre-Intermediate level

ELPNZ and the Electoral Commission are proud to share this teaching resource to help English learners understand and participate in the electoral process here in New Zealand. Click the link below to download the resource.

ELPNZ 2020 General Election Teaching Resources – Intermediate level

More useful resources

There are two main websites where you can find information and resources about the 2020 General Election, Referendums and How to Vote:

www.elections.nz

www.vote.nz

Key dates:

The 2020 General Election and referendums will be held in September. Voting begins in New Zealand on Saturday 3 October. The last day to vote is on Election Day Saturday 17 October.

This year’s election will look a little different because of COVID-19. Voting places will be set up to help keep people safe when they vote. Voting will start two days earlier than planned and there will be more advance voting places to spread out voting and give voters space. There will be other ways of voting for people who can’t go to a voting place.

  • Monday 10 August 2020: Voting Place and Advance Voting Place details available at vote.nz
  • Sunday 13 September 2020: Writ Day – Enrol by 13 September to receive information about the election in the mail as well as an EasyVote card which makes voting faster.
  • Saturday 3 October 2020: Advance Voting starts
  • Saturday 17 October 2020: Election Day
  • Friday 6 November 2020: Official election results

Enrol to vote:

You need to be enrolled to vote in the election and referendums.

Enrol early and keep your details up to date so you receive information about the election in the mail as well as an EasyVote card which makes voting faster.

You’re eligible to enrol and vote if you are 18 years or older, a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, and you’ve lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more at some time in your life.

Here are some tools for helping people make a decision on who to vote for:

1.       https://onthefence.co.nz/

2.       https://policy.nz/

Vote local, vote early:

Up-to-date information about voting places and opening hours is now available: https://vote.nz/voting/ways-you-can-vote/find-a-voting-place-on-a-map/

General Resources:

Below are a few links to some resources that may be helpful to you. Many resources are also available in different languages.

https://elections.nz/your-community/educating-adults-and-communities/

https://elections.nz/elections-in-nz/what-happens-in-a-general-election/

https://elections.nz/elections-in-nz/what-is-a-referendum/

https://elections.nz/your-community/2020-general-election-resources/

https://vote.nz/enrolling/enrolment-in-your-language/enrolment-information-in-multiple-languages/

https://vote.nz/voting/get-ready-to-vote/about-the-referendums/?ref=vote-cta-2

Job Opportunities at the Electoral Commission:

There are job opportunities available at the Electoral Commission that learners may be interested in. Visit https://elections.nz/jobs/work-at-the-2020-general-election/ for further information.

Referendums:

Two referendums will be held alongside the 2020 General Election. You can vote on whether the recreational use of cannabis should become legal. You can also vote on whether the End of Life Choice Act 2019 should come into force, giving people with a terminal illness the option of requesting assisted dying.

As there are two very complex referendums this year, it’s important that we teach the English language needed to understand what a referendum is about, but not to start discussing the content or personal opinions in classes.

Instead, we suggest that the published information about the referendums could be made available to English learners. There are flyers in a small range of languages available on the referendums.govt.nz website and Easy Read materials (which may be suitable for English language learners) can be found at the links below:

Here is a cool little video which clearly explains MMP:

https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/what-is-mmp/