All Kiwis can now vote in the New Zealand election, with advance voting up and running ahead of the October 14 polling day.
The electoral commission opened more than 400 polling places across New Zealand on Monday, with Kiwis increasingly showing enthusiasm to vote ahead of time.
Political leaders were among them, with the National party's leader Chris Luxon casting his ballot in Auckland, and Greens co-leader James Shaw doing so in Wellington.
"The great privilege we have in this country is our democracy and our ability to be able to vote," Mr Luxon said.
"Don't just leave it for someone else to do, actually step up to the plate."
Prime minister and Labour leader Chris Hipkins was unable to join them, forced off the campaign trail and holed up in Auckland after catching COVID-19.
Mr Hipkins tested positive on Sunday morning, and "still felt quite unwell" on Monday morning, according to his spokesperson.
"He's undertaking limited duties today, but aiming to pick up more things remotely from tomorrow, such as his morning media round," they said.
Labour's campaign team has announced he will do two "virtual town hall style" meetings this week, where Kiwis can jump on and ask the prime minister a question.
One is aimed at kids, who are enjoying their school holidays.
"It's an opportunity to open democracy up," Finance Minister Grant Robertson said.
"It's important that he's offering an opportunity since his diary is somewhat freed up."
Advance polling is becoming more popular. At the 2020 election, 1.97 million of a total 3.2 million voters returned their ballots before polling day.
"In 2020 about two out of every three votes was done in advance ... we're planning on about the same as 2020."," chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne told Radio NZ.
Mr Le Quesne said Kiwis casting ballots earlier meant an easier election day for voters, his team, and quicker results on election night.
"It just offers a bit more convenience (for voters) ... and for us it spreads the workload out and it means from election day we can start counting the advance votes and get those results out after 7pm when the polls close," he said.
The number of advance polling places will steadily increase to around 800 over the next fortnight, with 2300 open on Saturday, October 14.
Voters in the New Zealand election get two votes, or ticks; for an electorate MP, and the all-important party vote.
Overseas voting and dictation voting, a service used primarily by disabled Kiwis, have been available since last Wednesday.
Former Labour prime minister Jacinda Ardern exercised her democratic right from the United States last week, posting on Instgram a picture of the "I Voted" sticker every Kiwi gets after voting in-person.
"Flash flooding in New York wasn't going to stop us getting our vote in for the New Zealand election today," she said.
"It's the first time since I started voting that I haven't been involved in the campaign, but popping a ballot in the box felt just as important.
"You'll all know where my ticks went (two ticks for Chippy and the Labour team every time) but I wanted to add this point - if you're a kiwi abroad, please vote."
Ms Ardern has been conspicuously absent from New Zealand politics since leaving parliament in April, moving abroad to take up short-term roles at Harvard University.
There are 10 polling places for eligible voters to cast ballots in Australia: state and territory electoral commission headquarters, the NZ High Commission in Canberra and the NZ Consul-General's office in Sydney.
Kiwis abroad can also download postal forms, fill them out, and upload them back to the NZ Electoral Commission.
