Northland youth voting rates soared at last year's general election

The team of Electoral Commission youth advocates encouraged younger people to enrol and vote in the 2020 general election, and youth voting levels in Northland soared.

October's general election was predicted to generate a lot of voter interest, and it appears youth were well engaged.

There was a big increase in the number of young people voting at the 2020 general election, chief electoral officer Alicia Wright said.

And the increase was noticeable in Northland's three electorates - Northland, Whangārei and Te Tai Tokerau - which all saw big rises in the youth (aged 18 to 24) category.

Labour won all three electorates: Willow Jean Prime taking Northland, Emily Henderson winning Whangārei and Kelvin Davis retaining Te Tai Tokerau.

It's the first time Labour has held all three seats at the same time with Northland and Whangārei traditional National Party strongholds. Labour last held Northland in 1938, and Whangārei in 1975.

Just how big a part the youth vote played has yet to be determined, but traditionally younger voters favour the left.

The Electoral Commission had a big push ahead of October's election to get more youth enrolled and voting - including a dedicated team of youth advocates from the commission that visited Northland communities, including schools - and it appears to have paid off.

"This election we saw more people enrolling across the general and Māori rolls and more people voting," Wright said.

Official turnout including all votes was 82.2 per cent, the highest since 1999, and the final enrolment rate was 94.1 per cent, the highest since 2008.

"An age breakdown shows the biggest gains in turnout in the younger age groups," she said.

"The younger people are when they start voting, the more likely they are to be voters for life, which is important if we are to continue to have high participation rates in future elections."

In Whangārei 2704 voters aged 18-24 cast their ballots, which is 72.13 per cent of eligible voters enrolled in that age group.

In the 2017 election 2312 youth voted in Whangārei - 61.18 per cent of those eligible to vote - while in the 2014 election there were 2051 youth votes, or 55.15 per cent of those eligible.

In the Northland electorate last election - which had an overall voting rate of 83.49 per cent - 2237 youth voted, 67.81 per cent of those eligible.

In the 2017 election 1914 youth voted in the electorate - 60.49 per cent of those eligible, and in 2014 1487 voted, or 52.62 per cent.

In the Te Tai Tokerau electorate - which had an overall voting rate of 69.52 per cent - in October 3880 youth voted or 63.93 per cent of those eligible.

In 2017 in the electorate 3056 (58.4 per cent of those eligible) voted while in 2014 it was 2775 (54.17 per cent).

In all three electorates voter numbers were up across all age groups, though the rise in youth voting was the most noticeable.

Last election Whangārei had an overall voting rate of 83.09 per cent - compared to 79.41 per cent in 2017 and 78.05 per cent in the 2014 election.

The Northland electorate had an overall voting rate of 83.49 per cent at last year's election, compared to 81.49 per cent in 2017 and 77.65 per cent in 2014.

In Te Tai Tokerau the 2017 overall voting rate was 69.52 per cent, compared to 68.54 per cent in 2017 and 67.62 in 2014.

The Electoral Commission is pleased that turnout increased for younger voters at the election.

''It's important for young people to vote so that they can have a say in their future, and their whanau's future,'' Wright said.