Making history with Make It 16

‘‘We are part of a global movement of people trying to lower the voting age and we hope that the decision . . . will have impacts in places like the US and Canada and England.’’

Tipler was inspired in part by another notably young politician. Chlo¨ e Swarbrick was just 22 when she announced she was running for Auckland mayor in 2016 and, though she didn’t win, by the next year she was a list MP and, in 2020, she became only the second Green to win an electorate seat in Parliament.

Friends of Tipler’s were involved in that 2020 campaign. ‘‘They invited me along to go doorknocking and I thought it sounded interesting.’’

And it proved to be. Tipler became increasingly involved in what would become a historic campaign. ‘‘I felt like by the end of the election, I think [I knew] just as much as the adults around me . . . So I became pretty frustrated that I couldn’t vote.’’