Seniors head rush to enrol for election

Senior Wairarapa voters are leading the race to enrol to vote in this year's general election, but younger voters are not far behind.

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

A total of 4338 voters in the 65-69 age group have enrolled, which is about 100 per cent of the estimated eligible voting population based on Census data.

A further 8600 (94.51 per cent) of voters over 70 have enrolled.

Among younger voters, 4590 (92.54 per cent) in the 18-24 age bracket and 2784 (86.46 per cent) in the 25-29 age bracket have enrolled.

Across all age groups, 49,874 people (97.37 per cent) have enrolled in the Wairarapa electorate.

The commission is ramping up its efforts to encourage young voters to enrol, partnering with 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 election.

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 and reaching out 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.

"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 with 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 information about where to vote, the candidates for an electorate, political party lists, and how to vote in advance.