Many barriers stop young people from voting
ballot. Low voter turnout among the young has been a consistent issue in local body and national elections, an issue largely attributed to political apathy.
But Auckland University engineering student Simon Hays said political apathy in young people was caused by a lack of representation. ‘‘I think a big reason why young people don’t vote is because they look at those candidates and go: They all blend into one – who I vote for doesn’t really matter.’’
For some, the ballot papers did not arrive. According to the survey, 30% of respondents aged 18-34 did not receive a voting pack.
Another engineering student, Jack Sutcliffe, said young people were shouldering too many other responsibilities to care about voting in local elections. At the same time, I think voter apathy is so high because people just don’t care. A lot of people are not at the stage of life where they really care,’’ he said. ‘‘Young people are busy, you can get stuck up with so many other things in life, politics is just one of them.’’
For those who did vote, 58% of respondents aged 18-44 wanted to make a difference in their communities and towns or cities.
This is compared with 75% of voters aged 75 and older who saw it as a civic duty. The survey found 20% of respondents in the younger age ranges said they did not have time to vote and 14% said they did not care enough about local politics to vote. ‘‘A lot of people don’t have time to do the research or don’t care enough to know what all the candidates are about,’’ engineering student Ollie Madsen said.’’
While 69% of respondents wanted more information about candidates and policies, 68% also wanted online voting. Aucklanders and those aged 18-44 – two groups with the lowest voter turnout – put online voting at the top of their list of factors that would get more people voting.
Local Government NZ has called for an independent review of the voting system to improve participation.
This reporter’s role is public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air.