Whanganui schools encouraged to join voting education initiative

Josh Chandulal-Mackay has asked schools to consider taking on the programme. Photo / Bevan Conley

The country's youngest councillor wants to see Whanganui schools get involved in an initiative that will replicate local elections for students.

Whanganui District councillor Josh Chandulal-Mackay is supporting the Ngā Pōti ā-Taiohi - Youth Voting initiative, which will give students aged 11-15 an in-depth look at how council elections work.

The programme is backed by Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) as part of its Vote 2019 campaign.

LGNZ vice-president Stuart Crosby said the programme aligned with the organisation's campaign to increase people's interest with their local council.

"Youth voting is an engaging teaching resource in political awareness and gives our future voters a meaningful experience in the value and importance of the democratic process," he said.

"They get engaged with local issues, think about what matters and see how their power to vote can make a difference."

Almost 60 schools around the country are taking part, up from a total of 42 schools in 2016.

Whanganui council's youth committee co-chairwoman Ahimsha Saravanapavan said the problem around youth voting was the lack of education and the fact it seems unimportant.

"I think it's amazing there are organisations trying to encourage youth to vote," she said.

"I believe the youth vote is the most important because they are deciding their own future, and have an opportunity to actually make change."

Saravanapavan supported the initiative but would prefer to see it targeted towards a higher age group.

"At a more mature age from approximately 15-17, I believe there should be more emphasis on voting, and workshops teaching us how the election system works and the importance of being a part of it."

LGNZ is calling for expressions of interest from schools and sent letters to all schools that teach Year 7 to 10 students.

To date no schools from the Whanganui district have signed up, but that's something Chandulal-Mackay wants to see change.

"There is a problem, and that is in 2016 only 34 per cent of young people voted nationally despite there being quite a high rate of enrolment.

"The feedback LGNZ received following that election was that there are many young people that don't think it's relevant, don't care or don't know enough about the candidates."

Chandulal–Mackay joined the council's Youth Committee as a 12-year-old after becoming interested in local government issues but says education around the council election processes wasn't available in school.

"I was always very conscious of the fact throughout school there was nothing in the way of civil education, nothing in the way of how democracy works and in particular how local government works.

"For me it's just about making sure young people come into that system understanding what it means and how it's relevant."

LGNZ is pushing for youth to have better knowledge about local elections. Photo / Bevan Conley

The programme will get students discussing different policies and voting for their preferred local candidate.

The votes will be kept in-house to be compared with the actual results, and won't go towards the official election count.

"Not only are you learning the importance of voting but you're learning about critical thinking, debate and disagreement," Chandulal–Mackay said.

Meanwhile, Rangitikei District Council is also encouraging schools in its district to get involved with the initiative.

Local government elections take place in October.