During local elections, you can vote for the Mayor, a ward councillor and community board members.
Council elections are conducted by postal vote.
For the 2025 local elections, voting documents will be delivered between 9 September and 22 September 2025, and voting closes at noon on 11 October.
Each elector, after receiving their voting document, should complete it, seal it in the return postage-paid envelope and post or deliver it to a vote bin. Electors at the same address may receive their voting documents on different days.
If hand delivered, completed voting documents can be returned to Christchurch City Council Civic Offices, 53 Hereford Street, and Christchurch City Council libraries, customer service hubs, recreation and sports centres and other locations in the community. Some customer service hubs may not be open on election day.
Vote bin locations(external link) are included in voting documents.
People who are eligible to vote but who do not receive a voting paper in the post are able to request and complete a special vote(external link).
Anyone who is not able to complete a postal vote independently due to disability is invited to contact the Elections team at elections@ccc.govt.nz or phone 03 941 8999.
Put your completed voting papers in the postage-paid envelope. Don’t include anyone else’s voting papers in your envelope.
When posting, voting documents should be posted no later than 5pm on Tuesday 7 October to guarantee delivery before the close of voting.
Post your completed voting papers into any NZ Post or DX Mail postbox. You can use the PostShop/Kiwibank locator(external link) to find out where post boxes are located in your area.
You can also hand-deliver your vote to a voting bin(external link).
The details and profile statements for all candidates in local elections and by-elections are made available after the nominations close. This information will also be sent to electors with voting documents.
Christchurch City Council has two decision-making parts: the Council and Community Boards.
During the 2025 local elections, you can vote for:
Find your ward and community board.
The term for elected members is three years.
The Council is made up of the Mayor and 16 councillors. It makes decisions important to Christchurch as a whole.
All Christchurch voters elect the Mayor, while councillors are elected by voters from the ward they represent.
The six community boards represent their individual areas and cover three wards, with the exception of the Banks Peninsula ward, which has its own community board.
Each community board in the city has nine members, elected by voters from the areas they represent. The Banks Peninsula community board has eight. Councillors are also appointed to the community board covering their ward.
Community boards make decisions on local issues, activities and facilities, and help build strong communities.
Environment Canterbury also holds elections at the same time as us. Find out more.(external link)
There are many reasons you could cast a special vote in an election, including:
Special voting documents are available to electors:
Special voting documents will be available during normal opening hours Monday to Friday at a number of council customer service hubs from Friday 9 September until Friday 10 October 2025.
Some sites will also be open on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 October 2025 and on election day 11 October 2025 for the purpose of issuing special voting documents. You can also phone 03 941 8999 or email elections@ccc.govt.nz.
Special voting documents can be posted to electors. The completed voting paper must be returned to the electoral officer by post or in a vote bin by noon on election day.
Special voters must complete a statutory declaration. This is a legal requirement and a protection for electors against possible duplicate voting. If an elector requests a special vote and is not on the parliamentary roll, for example, they have just turned 18 years of age, the person must enrol by Friday 10 October.
An application for registration as a parliamentary elector may be obtained:
After voting closes, special vote declarations are forwarded to the Registrar of Electors for verification that the elector is eligible and has enrolled as a parliamentary elector.
Special voting documents cannot be collected by candidates or their assistants for distribution to electors.
On election day, Saturday 11 October, completed voting documents can be returned to all open Christchurch City Council libraries, recreation centres and other locations in the community, and Christchurch City Council Te Hononga Civic Offices, until noon.
Post into any NZ Post or DX Mail postbox by Tuesday 7 October 2025 or drop your completed voting paper into any of the orange vote bins at the following locations:
Council locations |
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Christchurch City Council, Te Hononga Civic Offices, 53 Hereford Street |
Akaroa Library, 2 Selwyn Avenue, Akaroa |
Akaroa Customer Service Hub, 78 Rue Lavaud, Akaroa |
Aranui Library, 109 Aldershot Street, Aranui |
Beckenham Customer Service Hub, Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre, 75 Lyttelton Street |
Diamond Harbour Library, Waipapa Avenue, Diamond Harbour |
Fendalton Library and Customer Service Hub, 4 Jeffreys Road, Fendalton |
Linwood Library and Customer Service Hub, Eastgate Shopping Centre, first floor, Corner Buckleys Road and Linwood Avenue, Linwood |
Little River Library and Customer Service Hub, 4236 Christchurch Akaroa Road |
Lyttelton Library and Customer Service Hub, 18 Canterbury Street, Lyttelton |
Matatiki Hornby Centre, 25 Smarts Road, Hornby |
Matuku Takotako: Sumner Centre, 14 Wakefield Avenue |
New Brighton Library, 213 Marine Parade, New Brighton |
Ōrauwhata: Bishopdale Library and Community Centre, 13 Bishopdale Court, Bishopdale |
Papanui Library and Customer Service Hub, 5 Restell Street, Papanui |
Parklands Library, 46 Queenspark Drive, Parklands |
Redwood Library, 339 Main North Road, Redwood |
Riccarton Customer Service Hub, 199 Clarence Street, Riccarton |
Shirley Library and Customer Service Hub, 36 Marshland Road, Shirley |
South Colombo Library, 262 Colombo Street, Sydenham |
Spreydon Library, 266 Barrington Street, Barrington |
Te Hāpua Halswell Centre, 341 Halswell Road, Halswell |
Tūranga, 60 Cathedral Square |
Upper Riccarton Library, 71 Main South Road, Sockburn |
Graham Condon Recreation and Sports Centre, 3 Sisson Drive, Papanui |
Jellie Park Recreation and Sports Centre, 295 Ilam Road, Burnside |
Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre, 75 Lyttelton Street, Somerfield |
Taiora QEII Recreation and Sports Centre, 193 Travis Road, New Brighton |
Te Pou Toetoe Linwood Pool, 141 Smith Street, Linwood |
Environment Canterbury, 200 Tuam Street |
Supermarkets and community locations |
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Christchurch International Airport, 30 Durey Road, Harewood |
Puaka James Hight Library, University of Canterbury, Ilam Campus, Ilam |
Avonhead Woolworths, Corner Withells Road & Merrin Street, Avonhead |
Belfast Woolworths, 755 Main North Road, Belfast |
Christchurch Airport Woolworths, 530 - 546A Memorial Avenue, Christchurch Airport |
Church Corner Woolworths, Corner Riccarton Road & Hansons Lane, Riccarton |
Eastgate Woolworths, 6 Buckleys Road, Linwood |
Ferrymead Woolworths, 999 Ferry Road, Ferrymead |
Hornby Woolworths, 17 Chappie Place, Hornby |
Moorhouse Ave Woolworths, 347 Moorhouse Avenue, Central City |
New Brighton Woolworths, 12 Hawke Street, New Brighton |
Northlands Woolworths, Corner Main North Road & Sawyers Arms Road, Papanui |
The Palms Woolworths, The Palms Plaza, Marshland Road, Shirley |
Woolworths Colombo St, 219 Colombo Street, Sydenham |
Fresh Choice Edgeware, 61 Edgeware Road, Edgeware |
Fresh Choice Fendalton, 376 Ilam Road, Bryndwr |
Fresh Choice Lyttelton, 17 London Street, Lyttelton |
Fresh Choice Parklands, 60 Queenspark Drive, Parklands |
New World Bishopdale, Bishopdale Mall, Corner Farrington Avenue and Harewood Road |
New World Durham Street, 175 Durham Street, Central City |
New World Ferry Road, 7-11 St John Street, Woolston |
New World Halswell, 346 Halswell Road, Halswell |
New World Ilam, 47C - 57C Peer Street, Upper Riccarton |
New World Northwood, 2 Mounter Avenue, Northwood |
New World Prestons, 420 Marshland Road, Marshland |
New World St Martins, 92 Wilsons Road, St Martins |
New World Wigram, 51 Skyhawk Road, Wigram |
Pak'nSave Wainoni, 174 Wainoni Road, Avondale |