2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum

Euthanasia was illegal in New Zealand, with it being illegal to "aid and abet suicide" under section 179 of the Crimes Act 1961. Two earlier attempts to legalise euthanasia failed to get through the New Zealand Parliament. Hawkes Bay National MP Michael Laws' 1995 Death with Dignity Bill failed by 61 votes against and 29 supporting, and NZ First MP Peter Brown's 2003 Death with Dignity Bill failed in its first reading by 60 votes opposing to 58 supporting.[6]

ACT party MP David Seymour entered the End of Life Choice Bill to the member's bill ballot in October 2015.[7] The bill passed its first reading 76–44 in December 2017 and its second reading 70–50 in June 2019.[8][9] In the committee of the whole House, support from the New Zealand First party became conditional on a referendum on whether the law should come into force.[3] An amendment to require a referendum passed 69–51.[10] The bill passed its third reading 69–51 on 13 November[11] and it received royal assent on 16 November 2019, becoming the End of Life Choice Act 2019.

A sample ballot for the 2020 referendums.

The referendum asked voters:[12]

Do you support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force?

The two options were:[12]

• "Yes, I support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force."
• "No, I do not support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force."

If the majority of voters support the legislation, it will come into force 12 months after the final vote count is announced.[12] If the majority oppose the legislation in the referendum (or any subsequent referendum, if the first is voided), it will not come into force and will be repealed by 16 November 2024, five years after it received the royal assent.[2]

Support for assisted dying since 2000 has averaged at around 68%.[3] During the 16-month-long select committee stage of the End of Life Choice Bill, 39,000 public submissions were made, with 90% of submitters opposed to it.[10] Over one thousand doctors signed an open letter in mid-2019 saying that they "want no part in assisted suicide".[13]

Summary of poll results given below. Lines give the mean estimated by a LOESS smoother (smoothing set to span = 0.75).

The rules regarding campaigning for the referendum are generally the same as for the general election. All advertisements must carry a promoter statement, stating the name and physical address of the promoter. It is illegal to campaign on polling day, or within a 10-metre (33 ft) radius of an advance polling booth.

During the regulated period, which runs from 18 August to 16 October 2020, promoters have to declare their campaign expenses and there are limits on how much they may spend on referendum campaigning. The maximum expense limit is $338,000 per referendum for those promoters registered with the Electoral Commission, and $13,600 per referendum for unregistered promoters.[14]

Results of the 2020 euthanasia referendum

Unlike the general election, a preliminary count for the cannabis and euthanasia referendums was not conducted on election night (17 October 2020). Instead, the referendum votes was counted alongside the mandatory election recount.[15]

All voting papers, counterfoils and electoral rolls are returned to the electorate's returning officer for counting. During the count, the returning officer will approve and count any special votes, and compile a master electoral roll to ensure no-one has voted more than once.[16] Special votes include votes from those who enrolled after the deadline of 13 September, those who voted outside their electorate (this includes all overseas votes), voters in hospital or prison, and those voters enrolled on the unpublished roll.[17] To simplify processing and counting, overseas votes will be sent to and counted at the Electoral Commission's central processing centre in Wellington, rather than to electorate returning officers.[18]

Preliminary results for the referendums were released by the Electoral Commission on 30 October 2020. These results had 65.2% of people in support of the legislation.[19]

Following the counting of the 480,000 special votes, official results for the general election and referendums were released on 6 November. Based on the final results, 65.1% of people supported the legislation while 33.7% opposed it.[5]

The new legislation took effect on 7 November 2021.[20][21]

Official results of the New Zealand euthanasia referendum, 17 October 2020[5]

Option	Votes
	Num.	%
Y Yes	1,893,290	65.91
N No	979,079	34.09
Total	2,872,369	100.00
Informal votes	35,702	1.23
Total votes cast	2,908,071	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	3,549,564	82.24

By polling place location

As each polling place had only one ballot box for ordinary referendum votes, ordinary votes were broken down by the general electorate where the polling place was located. Special votes were broken down by electorate. Both ordinary and special votes have been combined in the following table.[22]

Electorate	Y Yes		N No		Informal	Turnout
	Num.	%	Num	%
Auckland Central	28,889	76.88	8,690	23.12	417
Banks Peninsula	31,660	68.93	14,268	31.07	458
Bay of Plenty	31,743	69.11	14,186	30.89	401
Botany	22,417	57.25	16,740	42.75	575
Christchurch Central	30,899	67.87	14,629	32.13	603
Christchurch East	32,799	68.84	14,843	31.16	518
Coromandel	33,745	70.64	14,023	29.36	432
Dunedin	34,560	68.77	15,694	31.23	505
East Coast	34,645	65.84	17,972	34.16	710
East Coast Bays	29,890	68.03	17,972	31.97	416
Epsom	31,138	70.12	13,267	29.88	485
Hamilton East	28,862	62.10	17,616	37.90	591
Hamilton West	29,127	63.22	16,942	36.78	627
Hutt South	33,503	66.63	16,778	33.37	672
Ilam	27,562	64.88	14,921	35.12	453
Invercargill	26,536	63.77	15,076	36.23	404
Kaikoura	29,961	70.17	12,738	29.83	353
Kaipara ki Mahurangi	34,951	70.00	14,979	30.00	504
Kelston	19,078	58.72	13,411	41.28	583
Mana	25,331	63.87	14,979	36.13	559
Māngere	11,774	38.37	13,411	61.63	745
Manurewa	18,677	46.84	21,201	53.16	1,025
Maungakiekie	24,005	62.68	14,295	37.32	561
Mount Albert	30,697	71.46	12,260	28.54	561
Mount Roskill	21,326	55.66	16,990	44.34	779
Napier	32,530	70.95	13,321	29.05	519
Nelson	34,240	69.85	14,777	30.15	545
New Lynn	26,349	64.60	14,438	35.40	672
New Plymouth	31,526	66.57	15,835	33.43	461
North Shore	29,637	69.93	12,745	30.07	362
Northcote	28,002	68.08	13,128	31.92	468
Northland	34,542	67.25	16,819	32.75	636
Ōhāriu	27,437	67.70	13,093	32.30	434
Ōtaki	35,022	68.01	16,477	31.99	573
Pakuranga	25,091	62.83	14,842	37.17	483
Palmerston North	25,756	62.58	15,401	37.42	459
Panmure-Ōtāhuhu	14,868	47.54	16,406	52.46	956
Papakura	27,050	65.12	14,486	34.88	563
Port Waikato	28,886	67.71	13,763	32.29	446
Rangitata	29,775	65.57	15,632	34.43	475
Rangitīkei	29,312	65.80	15,236	34.20	396
Remutaka	26,608	64.29	14,781	35.71	511
Rongotai	29,505	69.92	12,696	30.08	761
Rotorua	29,376	64.94	15,862	35.06	582
Selwyn	27,738	69.72	12,046	30.28	284
Southland	27,664	68.83	12,526	31.17	327
Taieri	28,688	66.12	14,702	33.88	410
Takanini	17,251	56.73	13,158	43.27	624
Tāmaki	28,660	67.52	13,787	32.48	474
Taranaki-King Country	27,061	67.55	12,998	32.45	370
Taupō	33,842	68.11	15,842	31.89	453
Tauranga	33,647	65.59	17,652	34.41	506
Te Atatū	25,380	58.68	17,872	41.32	695
Tukituki	30,037	67.18	14,675	32.82	505
Upper Harbour	23,267	63.94	13,121	36.06	454
Waikato	24,346	64.77	13,241	35.23	419
Waimakariri	30,917	68.15	14,450	31.85	388
Wairarapa	33,290	69.38	14,693	30.62	467
Waitaki	28,862	68.03	13,566	31.97	401
Wellington Central	46,187	76.14	14,474	23.86	666
West Coast-Tasman	28,941	71.36	11,615	28.64	446
Whanganui	28,749	64.04	16,128	35.94	483
Whangaparāoa	29,539	68.24	13,747	31.76	304
Whangārei	34,823	67.85	16,500	32.15	642
Wigram	28,259	63.90	15,965	36.10	623
Hauraki-Waikato	3,915	58.71	2,753	41.29	255
Ikaroa-Rāwhiti	3,390	60.68	2,197	39.32	224
Tāmaki Makaurau	3,984	58.19	2,862	41.81	240
Te Tai Hauāuru	3,734	59.93	2,497	40.07	173
Te Tai Tokerau	3,942	59.15	2,722	40.85	204
Te Tai Tonga	4,157	67.63	1,990	32.37	185
Waiariki	3,753	57.63	2,759	42.37	241
Total	1,893,290	65.91	979,079	34.09	35,702

• Official referendum website