[4] The End of Life Choice Act legalises voluntary euthanasia for those with a terminal illness and less than six months left to live, if confirmed to be eligible by two doctors.

Hawkes Bay National MP Michael Laws's 1995 Death with Dignity Bill failed with 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.

Following the third reading, the act was written such that it could only come into force following a majority support at a referendum, which would make the legislation active twelve months after the final vote count.

[2] The wording of the referendum was also written into the act, and asked voters:[12] Support for assisted dying between 2000 and 2019 averaged at around 68%,[5] and prior to the act passing into law in 2019, support for some kind of medically assisted euthanasia for the terminally ill was polled at 74% in April,[13] and 72% in July of 2019.

[5] 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.

[14] Through 2020, following the act's assent, public support for it polled at 60–65%:The rules regarding campaigning for referendums are the same as for general elections.

[20] Following the counting of the 480,000 special votes, official results for the general election and referendums were released on 6 November.

[3] Three South Auckland electorates — Māngere, Manurewa and Panmure-Ōtāhuhu — voted against the End of Life Choices Act, perhaps due to conservative evangelical Pasifika Christianity's strength in those areas.