Traveling to a de facto embassy to vote in the 2026 New Zealand general election…
The New Zealand Office in Taipei. Photo: Zhen-Kang.
Unlike in Taiwan, where citizens must travel to their registered home electorate to vote in person on election day, overseas New Zealanders can vote remotely—at any time during the couple of weeks leading up to an election.
We can vote online, or in person at an embassy. In Taiwan’s case, this means a de facto embassy: the “New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office”.
(The New Zealand and Taiwan governments have an unofficial relationship. Consequently, the de facto Taiwan embassy in New Zealand—which I visited last year—is called the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Office”.)
For New Zealanders, online voting is exclusively available to those of us who are overseas.
I voted online in 2017 (from Australia) and 2023 (from Taiwan), but both times it felt a little flaky. Despite having worked in digital publishing for two decades, I couldn’t be sure I’d satisfied the very specific resolution and contrast requirements for printed-then-scanned voting documents—and I had no way of knowing whether my vote would be rejected on technical grounds.
My journey started last night after work, when I caught an 8:55pm bullet train to Taipei. The 350 km journey took 94 minutes.This morning, I rode the Taipei MRT to the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office. Taipei has just been rated as having the world’s best public transport—but I wonder if “AI Customer Service” would be so well-received in other countries. Here in Taiwan, where AI is creating jobs rather than replacing them, and where the economy—driven by the tech sector—is forecast to grow by around 12% this year, AI is viewed extremely favorably.The New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office is in this glass tower, just behind Pikachu.On the 9th floor, reception is to the left of this sign. Note the temporary orange “Vote Here / Pōti i Konei” sign.I completed a special vote declaration form, then cast my vote in the cardboard booth.On leaving, Taipei 101—my favorite tall building (recently scaled by Alex Honnold in a daring Netflix livestream)—was visible directly ahead. I didn’t have time for a climb (heh), but……I had a couple of minutes to spare, so swung by the nearby Apple Store to check out the new iPhone Duo.I’m not gonna buy one, but I liked it a lot more than I expected.I rode an electric YouBike back to the MRT station, and at Taipei Main Station transferred to the bullet train.I’m on the bullet train now, 15 minutes from Kaohsiung—where I have a work commitment in one-and-a-half hours. And my democratic duty is done!
