A passionate Labour supporter died less than two weeks before voting opened, but his message has reached thousands.

Rangiora community stalwart Peter Allen – who suffered from motor neurone disease – died on August 30, 12 days before early voting began.

The highly respected former Rangiora High School principal and Waimakariri District Councillor left a video message on Facebook as a "last time voter" voicing his support of Jacinda Ardern and her party.

Peter Allen volunteering at the Kaiapoi Welfare Centre in the days following the September 2010 earthquake.

It has been viewed more than 7000 times, even by the Labour leader herself.

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Allen explained why he was going to vote for Labour, with a framed caricature of Ardern propped beside him.

The 71-year-old, breathless but staunch in his delivery, said he saw Ardern's leadership potential a year ago.

"I'm a motor neurone disease sufferer and as such I will be a last time voter at the coming elections," he said.

He finished the message with the words, 'Let's do this".

Ardern commented on the post on his son Michael's Facebook page the night of his death.

"So moved by your dad's passion and focus on others, and on our environment," she wrote.

"From the messages I can see he was a really special person. My thoughts are with you and your whanau."

Allen's daughter, Catherine Bish,​ said "he would have been pretty thrilled by that".

Cartoonist Jeff Bell, whose caricature featured in the video, also commented on the post saying Allen was his principal at Rangiora High.

"[He] gave me my first cartoon commission as a third former for the school calender. A smart, kind man."

Bish said she found out only recently that her lifelong Labour-supporting father had once put his name forward for nomination for the party.

"He said it was the best thing that never happened to him."

He became involved in local politics instead, where he could help people at a more grassroots level, particularly through the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes.

"He believed very strongly in social justice, collective power and in the individual's power to make a change within our democracy."

He wanted so much to vote in the 2017 election, she said.

Diagnosed with the incurable, degenerative disease in April, his condition quickly deteriorated.

"It progressed incredibly quickly for Dad, faster than any of the professionals had ever seen."

He was still passionate about encouraging a government with "progressive leadership".

To take his BiPap breathing machine off to record the message "was actually quite an act of bravery for him", his daughter said.

Allen donated his brain to the Motor Neurone Disease Research Fund, and more than $1500 was raised for the cause at his memorial service attended by more than 600 people.