Election 2014: 37pc of young voters not enrolled

Senior Northland voters are leading the race to enrol to vote in this year's general election, but younger voters are lagging behind.

Almost 100 per cent of voters over 65 in the Northland electorate have enrolled ahead of the September 20 election, according to Electoral Commission statistics for July 31.

A total of 5552 voters in the 65-69 age group (99.32) have enrolled, which is around 100 per cent of the estimated eligible voting population based on 2013 Census data. A further 9667 (93.40 per cent) voters over 70 have enrolled.

In contrast, 3934 voters (63.45 per cent) in the 18-24 age bracket and 2829 voters (69.51 per cent) in the 25-29 age bracket have enrolled.

Across all age groups, 55,977 voters ( 87.97 per cent) have enrolled in the Northland electorate.

The Electoral Commission is ramping up its efforts to encourage young voters to enrol, even partnering with Kiwi songstress Lorde who produced two videos talking about why voting matters and how important it was for young people to have a say in the coming elections.

Enrolment services national manager Murray Wicks said Lorde made "some very good valid points".

However, having Lorde on board was just part of a "complete arsenal" the commission was using to reach young voters.

"Everything has an impact and everything helps."

The commission was using social media through the I Vote NZ Facebook page, as well as reaching out to directly to communities.

"We have people right through the country going around doing presentations, we've been to all schools, tertiary institutions."

Young voters needed to realise that their vote was just as important as everyone else's, he said.

"We encourage them to participate but the first thing they need to do is enrol."

Nationwide, 207,321 voters in the 65-69 age group (96.94 per cent) and 418,349 in the 70 + age group (94.42 per cent) have enrolled, compared to 306,695 (69.36 per cent) in the 18-24 age group and 223,871 (74.65 per cent) in the 25-29 age group.

A nationwide total of 3,011,205 voters have enrolled so far.

Voters need to enrol by August 20 to receive an EasyVote Pack containing important information about the election.