A former Labour candidate in the Waitaki electorate is calling on more young people to get on the roll ahead of this year’s general election.

On A Roll, a youth-led non-partisan campaign, is urging young people to enrol before the October 25 deadline.

Ethan Reille (Kāi Tahu), 22, is one of the rangatahi behind the movement and said young people needed to see voting as something bigger than political parties.

‘‘This shouldn’t be about political parties. It should be about our communities, the kind of future we want to inherit, and also just ensuring that we have a seat at the table.’’

The number of young people enrolled to vote has increased over the past month, but almost 188,000 18 to 24-year-olds are not enrolled remain unenrolled ahead of November’s general election.

The youth enrolment rate rose from 53.89% at the end of July to 57.45% at the end of August. There are currently 253,158 18 to 24-year-olds enrolled to vote.

Mr Reille, who stood unsuccessfully for Labour in the Waitaki electorate in the 2023 general election, said young people’s low participation could become a cycle, with a lack of trust in politicians making young people feel disconnected from the political system.

‘‘We know that young people don’t feel prioritised by politicians. Therefore, they don’t see themselves in the system, and therefore they don’t vote. And because they don’t vote, politicians will continue to not prioritise those very young people.’’

On A Roll was created in response to changes made through the Electoral Amendment Act, including the removal of same-day enrolment.

‘‘By virtue of that, there are more barriers for young people to be voting in this year’s general election,’’ Mr Reille said.

‘‘We know that young people, particularly 18 to 24-year-olds, are the least likely to be enrolling and voting, and that’s by virtue of the statistics.’’

He said 16,000 more young people had enrolled in the past month, which he described as ‘‘really good’’ progress.

‘‘That shows that we’re making moves.’’

But he said there was still a long way to go.

‘‘Imagine if all of us showed up,’’ he said.

‘‘Imagine what kind of future Aotearoa would look like if all of us showed up and enrolled to vote for this year’s general election.’’

Mr Reille said young people’s disengagement was not necessarily about indifference, but a lack of confidence that voting would make a difference.

‘‘I think the goalposts keep on shifting. For a long time now, young people have been excluded from the system and the way our election cycles are set up. There’s the sense of a self-reinforcing cycle.’’

He said the campaign wanted to make the process easier to understand, while moving the focus away from political parties.

‘‘The conversations we’re having on the ground is voting does seem hard.

‘‘Our job in Aotearoa is to make voting as seamlessly easy as possible and to be able to demystify and break down those barriers.’’

He said their movement was focused on encouraging young people to think about the issues and future they cared about, rather than telling them who to vote for.

‘‘As a non-partisan campaign, we really want to depoliticise the idea of enrolling and voting. This has everything to do about young people and the kind of future they want, no matter their beliefs or the issues they care about.’’

Mr Reille said the cost of living was one issue young people were consistently raising.

But he said the campaign wanted to reach young people before they even got to the question of which party or candidate they might support.

‘‘It’s having a real honest conversation about how enrolling and voting brings a sense of community.

‘‘And it’s, again, taking away this idea that voting is about an individual, it’s about a collective.

‘‘If all of us showed up on November 7 and were enrolled by October 25, then we could literally change the way that politics is done and it would be more representative of young people and the issues that they’re thinking about when they go into this year’s general election.’’ — RNZ