Social media campaign #ForFuturesSake, was launched today to encourage more rangatahi aged between 18-29 to vote.
Statistics show Māori aged 18 - 29 have the lowest rate of enrollment than any other age group with only 55 percent of the total estimated population in this age range voting at the last election. Te Tai Tonga has the highest number of voters enrolled aged between 18-29 and Waiariki has the lowest.
Minister of Māori Development Te Ururoa Flavell launched the event today and says that Social Media is the big focus for this campaign. We need to reach out to everyone through the world of the internet and encourage them to vote because we're only three months out from elections we need to focus our attention on those who haven't yet enrolled to vote.
Social Media Influencer William ‘Wairua’ Cribb was at the launch promoting the campaign and encouraging people to vote. He says that Social Media is the way to go these days. Not many people are watching TV and it’s all Snapchat Instagram Facebook so it's a really good platform to encourage youth to vote.
This is the first year of a four-year programme to raise awareness and participation of Māori in electoral processes. The programme will be monitored and the results of that will help inform future years of the programme.
Rangatahi enrolled to vote in each electorate:
HAURAKI WAIKATO – Voters between 18 -29 – 10,130 were enrolled, 4,744 Did not vote
IKAROA RAWHITI – Voters between 18 -29 – 9,125 were enrolled, 4,207 Did not vote
WAIARIKI - Voters between 18 -29 – 9,095 were enrolled, 4,542 Did not vote
TE TAI TOKERAU - Voters between 18 -29 – 8,770 were enrolled, 3,983 Did not vote
TE TAI HAUAURU - Voters between 18 -29 – 8,704 were enrolled, 4,142 Did not vote
TE TAI TONGA - Voters between 18 -29 – 10,194 were enrolled, 4,768 Did not vote
TAMAKI MAKAURAU - Voters between 18 -29 – 10,301 were enrolled, 4,752 Did not vote