Election 2020: Electoral Commission spending on social media for youth vote - is it working?

Aro Digital managing director Tim Dorrian. Photo / Supplied

There was no "yoof" explosion in 2017 when 31 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 failed to vote, according to Electoral Commission statistics.

The 25 to 29s (32 per cent) were even bigger slackers and 30 to 34s (29 per cent), little better.

Middle-aged and older people enrolled and voted in larger numbers.

This year, the Electoral Commission seems to be trying to make a major effort to increase participation by younger voters, based on analysis by Wellington agency Aro Digital.

As of this week, the commission has been the biggest social ad spender in
the lead-up to the 2020 New Zealand election, Aro principal Tim Dorrian says, spending $160,681 on Facebook alone since July 14.

The commission's single biggest campaign so far has been "Don't be a vote ghost", which according to Facebook stats was targeted at the 18-24s and 25-34s.

"Reminiscent of the famous "Ghost Chips" anti-drunk driving campaign, the ad is all about encouraging young people to enrol and vote," Dorrian says.

A "don't be nervous about your first time" double-entendre effort was targeted mostly at the 18-24s, though also served to a number in the 25-34 bracket.

An ad based around the cannabis referendum - a useful vehicle to try interest around in enrolment - was also heavily targeted to those two demographics, though the commission also spent a smattering to reach older Facebook users.

So is it all working?

The Electoral Commission's most recent figures, released on September 30 - just over a fortnight from the election - show 72.4 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds have enrolled to vote.

It remains to be seen how many actually vote, but that's a better base than 2017, when 69.3 per cent of 18-24s had enrolled by election day.

Similarly, an estimated 79.57 per cent of 25 to 29s have enrolled this year, compared to 67.56 per cent in 2017.