A campaign called "We Have Power" has bought 15 tertiary campuses together with the lofty goal of getting every student to vote. At Massey University our Design+Democracy Project has been helping to address the declining number of young voters with tangible results.
Our online questionnaire, On the Fence 2017, asks users a series of political questions, then compares their responses with the political parties to give their closest match.
Young people want to see politicians speaking about real issues, not sound bites. They want political parties to offer up meaningful programmes of change that resonate with them.
The political candidate doesn't need to be young, Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn are both older white men.
Rather youth want authenticity and substance, which is why campaigns targeted at young voters can also fall on deaf ears as witnessed by Dotcom's and the Mana Party's $4m spend up last time.
During August the Electoral Commission reported a surge in young people enrolling to vote with 16,694 young people in the 18-29 age bracket signing up.
During that time there was not a dull moment on the political landscape with Jacinda Adern becoming Labour's leader, James Shaw becoming the sole leader of the Green Party following Metiria Turei's resignation, and Peter Dunne throwing his bow ties out of the cot.
Through these ups and downs there was no doubt young voters started to get engaged and "Jacindamania" was coined. Could we expect a "youthquake"?
Jacinda Ardern's "relentless positivity" has resonated with young people, as have values-based ideologically driven speeches, and the Greens looking shaky. The millennials have pricked up their ears.
Sensing this wind of change parties have started addressing key issues that are important to them such as student fees, taxing property investment, affordable housing, and tackling social issues such as poverty.
In this year's election there has been a palpable and concerted effort to get young people to vote and long may this continue.
The question is, is it enough to not only get them enrolled, but taking the next vital step of forming queues at the ballot box and voting before close of play on Saturday?
There is no doubt an increased youth turnout could make a significant impact on this year's result, with under 30s having the potential to become the biggest voting bloc in the country.
This has not been lost on the political parties. On all sides of the spectrum they are keen to tap into the potential the missing young voters might offer. The 2017 campaign has seen social media becoming a key platform.
Bill English has shared Facebook chats with his children, and told Jacinda Ardern he knows about millennials "because he raised them". Steven Joyce, National Party chairman, has said using social media is one of their key tools to attract young voters, "even if it meant the party was sometimes given a hard time for it".
Jacinda Adern has been a school ground, university campus frequent visitor and has announced almost all her party's major policies there. All parties are out there trying to talk their language.
With the political turmoil calming, and the polls saying its close, how is the perceived ray of hope of a "youthquake" looking?
As of last week nearly a quarter of a million younger voters were not yet enrolled. Nearly 20,000 fewer young people under 30 have registered compared with 2014.
Of course anyone who runs major organised events will tell you millennials like to keep their options open to the last minute and rock up on the day.
If they leave it till election day they will be thwarted, however. They can only enrol up until the day before election day.
Whatever happens this election, the long-term strategy to engage, inform and get young people voting needs to continue.
• Claire Robinson is professor of communication design at Massey University.
