Youth struggle to identify Waipa mayor

The countdown to the local government election is nearing but in Cambridge it appears the younger generation don’t give a hoot.

Waipa District Council faces some tough challenges as population and development growth outpace forecasts.

But for people like Cambridge fast food worker Purdey Woodward, there does not seem to be any interest in electing community leaders to deal with those challenges.

Woodward, 21, doesn’t care there is an election on. She reckons it doesn’t affect her and she has no interest.

‘‘We didn’t get taught this stuff at school so how are we expected to know now?’’ she said.

She won’t be voting even though she has enrolled. She has no idea who is standing and even thought the mayor of the district was a woman.

Waipa’s incumbent mayor is in fact, a man. Jim Mylcreest is seeking re-election to the top job and his opponent is councillor Vern Wilson.

Woodward’s disinterest seems to be typical of other young people, despite efforts to increase voter turnout this year.

An 18-year- old, who would only identify himself as Lachlan, said he wasn’t enrolled and ‘‘wouldn’t have a clue about what the council does’’.

Abraham Schooley, 22, said he didn’t know who the Waipa mayor was either but would check with his parents to see if his voting papers had arrived.

He would vote although had no idea at this stage who the candidates were.

Cambridge KFC worker, Juve Oldnall, 28, is definitely going to vote, but was unsure who to vote for too.

‘‘I’ll read through the stuff about the candidates and then probably ask my dad who to vote for as he knows about this kind of stuff,’’ she said.

Her colleague, Prisca Ross, 20, said she did not like being forced to do anything she didn’t want to. Voting and being enrolled was one of them.

‘‘I have no idea who the mayor of Cambridge is and I don’t care.’’

Bakery manager Vannak Sole, 36, despite having election posters on his store window, had no idea who was standing for council and had not enrolled.

An early indication is voting in the Waipa will remain low despite efforts from Local Government New Zealand to encourage participation this election.

Polling day is October 8.