Show some love and vote

Auckland Council is reaching out to voters to help foster a new sense of excitement about voting and local democracy.

Its voter campaign is called ‘Show Your Love for Auckland’ and reminds people that voting is an important part of loving, caring for and valuing where they live.

It says there are important reasons why a fresh, new campaign approach was needed.

In the 2013 local elections, Auckland ranked near the bottom in New Zealand for turnout. Of eligible voters, only 35.5 per cent turned out, compared with 51 per cent in 2010. And the number of candidates running for office dropped from 545 in 2010 to 470 in 2013.

Surveys have found that the highest voter turnout is in the 70-plus age group (89 per cent) and lowest was in the 18-29 age group, at 34 per cent.

Declining voter turnout is a challenging global issue. Almost all mature democracies are trying to reverse a long-term trend of voter decline in elections, and engaging with younger adults is a key part of turning this around. In Auckland, there are more than 450,000 eligible voters aged 18-39.

‘‘We wanted to address this worrying voter turnout trend. We’ve worked with creative agency DDB to come up with a campaign that might help break the cycle of voter decline,’’ Auckland Council’s elections planning manager Glyn Walters says.

‘‘We looked at a number of different concepts to see which has the most resonance with Aucklanders and might create behavioural change. One of these was about loving where you live and celebrating that love through voting or standing for office.

‘‘To the surprise of some of us working on the campaign, the ‘love’ concept turned out to be the winner,’’ says Walters , who leads the council’s elections planning work, including choosing a communications concept for the 2016 elections.

‘‘When we started working through ideas, some of us thought a ‘Love’ concept seemed a bit remote from elections. However, when we tested it out with a range of Aucklanders, it struck a powerful chord.’’

To make it easier for people to vote this year, local ballot boxes will also be available at council libraries and service centres.