With New Zealand’s general election looming on October 17, and "Writ Day"(the day the sitting government dissolves) this Sunday, officials say now is the time to get the community engaged with the election.
New Zealand law says you must be enrolled to vote if you are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident over 18 years old and have lived in New Zealand for more than one year at some time in your life.
However, voting is not compulsory.
Dunedin-based Registrar of Electors for the Dunedin, Taieri, Waitaki and Rangitata electorates Rachel McAnally said the race was on to get young voters on the roll.
In the Dunedin electorate only 64.5% of 18 to 24-year-olds were on the electoral roll, the proportion in the Taieri electorate being better at 84.6%.
For those aged 25 to 29, the figures were 89.5% and 91.9% respectively, while most other age groups were well over 90%.
"We have a community engagement team for the southern electorates, and most of that work is happening down at the university, polytechnic and in high schools at the moment," Mrs McAnally said.
"We are also phoning young people and encouraging them to jump online to register — it’s very quick."
Mrs McAnally said the Electoral Commission was pushing people to register for the electoral roll by this Sunday, Writ Day, as it was the closing date for the printed roll.
Only those people registered by Sunday will receive a printed EziVote card in the post and will be able to cast an "ordinary" vote.
People enrolling after Sunday will have to cast a "special" vote.
Taieri electorate returning officer Mary-Jane Moffat said it took on average three minutes to cast an ordinary vote, but about 16 minutes for a special vote — not including queuing.
Ms Moffat said detailed planning had been done in relation to Covid-19 alert levels, and there would be voter assistants at polling booths to ensure social distancing.
Mrs McAnally said the Electoral Commission also worked to encourage people to make the effort to vote.
Research showed the two main reasons people did not vote in the 2017 election were: they did not know who to vote for, and they did not think their vote would count.
"There are neutral websites available, where people can see which political parties their values are aligned with," she said.
"Most importantly, people need to realise that every vote does count."
Right now, it was most important that people were registered on the electoral roll, at the correct address, she said.
"Last election, there were 66,000 votes that didn’t count — don’t let that be you."
For information on enrolling, visit vote.nz or phone 080036-76-56.
Neutral websites for voting research are: onthefence.co.nz; votecompass.tvnz.co.nz; policy.nz
