Youth non-voting: 
Drastic solutions

Why don’t you vote?

It’s a question that gets asked more now than ever, with increasing numbers of people around the world squandering their right to vote.

In this crisis of voter participation, why should anyone focus on young voters, who always vote less than the general population? It makes sense for them to not vote: they have other priorities, they probably don’t know enough about the options, they need more life experience before they understand why they would want to participate in something as dull as democracy.

But research shows people who don’t vote young, aren’t likely to vote at all. And the opposite is also true: after someone votes once, they’ll probably keep doing it for the rest of their life.

We know that nearly half of New Zealanders aged 18-29 didn’t vote in the 2014 general election, and surveys indicate two thirds of 18-24 year olds don’t vote in local elections.

If society wants to address this global fall in voter participation, we have to look at young people—and we might just have to do something drastic.

“I haven’t felt the need.” - Connor McCarty, 20

This is a common reason to not vote, not limited to young people.

The ‘rational actor’ theory presents a cold and calculating, yet simple model for whether voters will turn out.

This equation predicts the likelihood that someone will vote in the election. If the left side is greater (or heavier) than the right side, the voter is more likely to turn out.

The first two letters stand for the probability your vote will influence the outcome of the election, multiplied by the benefit you would get if who you voted for was elected. Since the last general election saw the National party end up with half a million votes over the second-closest Labour party, one more person voting wouldn’t have made a difference. Therefore the whole PB part of this equation is usually pretty negligible.

Added on to this is what was once known as civic duty, but now refers to any benefits you get from the act of voting itself, regardless of what happens in the election. This could be just a good feeling about participating in society, or getting a free sausage if you live in Australia.

This then needs to outweigh the cost of voting, something which can take many forms. There’s the cost of getting to the election booth, or filling out the postal voting forms. Then there’s the perception of how long it would take to be well enough informed to cast a good vote.

In Connor McCarty’s world, voting isn’t something that affects him in daily life.

The 20 year old Massey University student says he’s not engaged by New Zealand politics—and neither are his friends.

“I think most of it is motivation, I haven’t felt the need.”

For McCarty, the perceived benefit of voting is lower than the cost of voting. And like many young people, he sees voting as something that should have a benefit, and not just something to be done out of a sense of duty.

“All the parents I meet are just interested in saying ‘you have to vote, they died in the war for your vote,’” McCarty says, “and that’s all well and good, but it doesn’t ring the right bells.”

The Electoral Commission conducted a survey after the general election in 2014.

They found around a third of all non-voters are with McCarty, citing a lack of interest in politics or voting as their main reason for not voting.

The survey also found self-stated barriers—such as work or religious commitments—were big reasons for people not to vote.

Chantelle Cullen, 21, echoed this.

“I didn't vote because I had work.” the AUT student says, “I didn't know enough about who or what I was voting for to feel the motivation to leave work early to vote.”

Electoral Commission Communications and Education Manager, Anastasia Turnbull, says it’s difficult for them to tackle the low youth voting rate.

“Most of the factors that influence turnout are outside our control,” Turnbull says.

So how can we heighten the perceived benefits and lower the perceived barriers of voting for young people?

It might just take something bold.

Alex Mackenzie, a solicitor at Russell McVeagh, has written extensively on the topic of compulsory voting.

“My lecturer said to me: ‘Australia’s got this compulsory system. We never seem to hear anything about it in New Zealand. Why don’t you have a look at that?’”

It doesn’t get debated often in New Zealand apart from a couple of flashes around elections over the last few years.

It may seem obvious, but research shows when voting is made compulsory, and penalties are enforced, voter turnout lifts.

Before there was a penalty for not voting in Uruguay, their voter turnout fluctuated around 65% to 77%. The very same year that they introduced a fine and sanctions for non-voters, their election turnout jumped to 89%.

Mackenzie says “most of those people were the kinds of people that weren’t turning out before.”

This includes young people, some of whom say they don’t have an interest or understanding of politics.

“Under the voluntary system you go ‘well, I don’t see how this affects my daily life…and my vote’s not gonna make the difference anyway,’” Mackenzie says.

“If I know however, that by not showing up, I’m gonna have to pay 25 bucks or whatever the fee is, then maybe it does become rational for me to show up.”

This comes back to the rational actor theory mentioned earlier. Compulsory voting with enforced fines increases the benefit a young person gets from the act of voting, by making it worth a countable amount of money.

Connor McCarty, the 20 year old non voter, says if it was compulsory, he’d be at the polling booth.

So did 100% of respondents to this question in an informal online survey.

However, this hasn’t yet tackled the problem of young people being disinterested in politics.

Jennifer Curtin, associate professor of politics at Auckland University, says compulsory voting could also encourage politicians to discuss the types of issues which affect youth.

“There’s a vicious cycle part to this.” - Jennifer Curtin

“The major parties believe they need to target their very strapped-for-cash machines to providing policies and commitments to those who do turn out,” Curtin says.

“And that cohort could really grow and become even more marginalised because there’s no incentive for parties to bring them into the system.”

Auckland Council elections programme manager, Glyn Walters, says New Zealand may not be ready for compulsory voting, but finds it hard to argue its effectiveness.

“I was over in New South Wales last year for the state elections and I went down to the Sydney town hall on election day, and it was absolutely packed full of young people voting,” says Walters.

20 year old University of Queensland student Madison Lang wasn’t at that particular town hall, but she’s voted in every Australian election so far.

“All my friends who are over 18 will vote. One of them did a postal vote, but it arrived too late to be counted and she actually got fined,” Lang says.

Australia isn’t alone: there are 26 countries with compulsory voting, and Australia is one of 16 countries that properly enforce it.

One argument against compulsory voting is that we should have the right to abstain from voting.

As the Oxford definition of the word ‘compulsory’ shows, being forced to do something has fairly negative connotations in a free society.

compulsory, adjective
Required by law or a rule; obligatory.
‘compulsory military service’
‘it was compulsory to attend mass’

Especially in our secular society, with a history of anti-war protests, being forced to go to church or join the military would be a huge violation of rights.

But Mackenzie says it’s important to look at what exactly is compulsory in compulsory voting

“It’s actually a misnomer, because pretty much every single compulsory voting system in the world doesn’t actually force you to vote.” the 26 year old says.

“What it actually forces you to do is turn up to the booth.”

Mackenzie says at that point, voters can decide to not vote by just scribbling over the ballot papers, also known as an informal vote. However, he says a good compulsory voting system would include a “none of the above” option, or even a process for conscientious objectors to exclude themselves from voting.

“[Compulsory voting] is an opt-out system in the sense that you have to put some effort in in order to not get fined—whereas at the moment you have to put some effort in just to do the vote.”

Lang says she thinks many of her friends try to game the system, and they wouldn’t vote if it wasn’t compulsory.

“They’re really disenfranchised with the whole thing...they donkey vote.”

If this is the case, is it really a good idea to force uninformed and uninterested people to turn up at the polls?

Mackenzie thinks so.

“I think the important thing is that we actually get these people to vote, and even if that means that we’ll have some people voting who aren’t that engaged in it, that’s okay.”

“Chances are that a lot of people who do already do vote probably aren’t that engaged.”

Lang is one young person who is happy with the system of compulsory voting, and around 70% of Australians share her view.

Curtin says compulsory voting protects the rights of young people, and should definitely be a consideration for New Zealand.

“I s’pose I think democracy is too important to leave it to those who are sufficiently enamoured and included in it.”

The New Zealand government this year turned down a trial of online voting.

It was mainly declined due to concerns around cyber-safety and integrity of votes.

But following the drastically low turnout of local elections, the government are considering the trial again.

Auckland Council’s Manager of Democracy Services, Marguerite Delbet, says Auckland Council were very supportive of the trial.

“We know from overseas research that there is no silver bullet to increase voter turnout, but it is definitely one of the mechanisms that might help us stop the decline,” Delbet says.

There is some evidence that goes towards the theory that online voting could assist low youth turnout.

In the US, young people registered online for the 2010 midterm elections at more than double the rate of older generations.

Closer to home, Statistics NZ information from 2012 shows more than two thirds of young people are willing to vote online.

A Massey University survey also found three in four students would be more likely to vote if there was an online option—more than would be motivated by a $50 payment.

Auckland Council’s Glyn Walters says young people tend to shift residences more, between rental properties, universities, and jobs.

This makes it harder for many young people to vote in local government’s postal voting system.

“If you’re a relatively mobile person it’s quite hard for the Electoral Commission to keep track of you and make sure that you’re enrolled and receive your voting documents,” the council elections manager says.

Walters says online voting would be particularly beneficial for local elections.

“There is an event associated with the [national] election, people go home and they maybe have a barbeque...whereas the local government elections tend to be spread over a three week period which dissipates the event, there is no voting event.”

Delbet says online voting would hopefully reduce the effort needed to vote.

“The hurdle of having to open an envelope, vote with a pen and paper, and then find a postbox to return your ballot papers is certainly not helping.”

An Online Voting Working Party report looked at how to implement the strategy in New Zealand and concluded votes cast through many overseas online systems generally would have been cast anyway.

However, the report also noted there’s mixed evidence around whether young people would be more likely to vote online.

Delbet says: “We know that non-participation of youth in the voting process is much more than only the methods of voting.”

20 year old Connor McCarty says his decision not to vote in the general election factored in more than just the physical effort of voting at a ballot box.

“There was nothing that really drew my attention to New Zealand politics, so when it came to election time, I didn’t really know who I wanted to vote for,” he says.

However, McCarty says a shift to online voting could mean election candidates put more effort into campaigning online.

“When [the election] comes around...there’s definitely no staggering amount of posts on Facebook about it for me.”

If online voting did mean political campaigns shifted more of their focus online, it may decrease the cost of becoming aware and informed about the elections.

InternetNZ deputy chief executive Andrew Cushen agrees that it would be better to place emphasis on better online voter education.

“[Council elections] include that little booklet with a couple hundred words from each of the candidates - and that’s largely, I think, due to the limitations of physical space.”

“That physical space isn’t so pronounced on the online world.”

There are also many youth voter encouragement services online, such as Vote Compass and Auckland council’s showyourlove.co.nz.

These services being online could shorten the distance between youth engagement and actually casting a vote.

Auckland council has actually already trialled online voting in a way—for the Kids Voting programme.

Delbet said in 2013 online voting delivered positive results for 11-15 year olds.

“The feedback we get is overwhelmingly that it’s very easy,” Ms Delbet said.

RockEnrol founder Laura O’Connell Rapira is more cynical than some about online voting, saying the increased accessibility could mean nothing for many young people.

“Just because you give me an easier way to do my homework doesn’t mean that I’m gonna hand it in,” she analogises.

However, the two most common themes with online voting are: it’s not a solution to non-voting on its own, but it’s very likely to happen.

Cushen says there are still people who don’t have consistent access to the internet.

Statistics NZ data shows that in 2012, there were still one in five homes that didn’t have an internet connection.

“Online voting is always going to be an ‘and’ option, not an ‘or’ option. It’s going to be another way that people could vote, not the only way,” Cushen says.

Auckland Council's Glyn Walters says today we can do almost everything online except vote. He says whatever benefits online voting has, we’re probably going to see them sometime soon.

“Ultimately I think it is inevitable that we’ll end up with online voting in some shape or form.”

This proposal has previously entered parliament.

Former Green Party MP Sue Bradford added the Civics Education and Voting Age Bill to the private members ballot. It was never drawn.

The proposal was wildly unpopular, at least among commenters on The New Zealand Herald.

Bradford’s reasoning was that at sixteen, young people can get married, have children, and be taxed, and should therefore also get the right to vote.

But the proposal may also have had the potential to lift turnout of young voters.

A recent and well-publicised example of allowing 16 year olds to vote was the Scottish Independence Referendum.

In a report on the referendum, Scottish Electoral Commissioner John McCormick said it proved that 16-17 year olds, when inspired by an issue, will participate in the discussion and the voting.

The 84.6% turnout was the highest ever recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom since universal suffrage was granted, and significantly higher than Scotland’s normal turnout average of 57%.

A post-referendum survey found at 75% turnout, 16-17 year olds voted at a higher rate than 18-24 year olds. Only 54% of these already enfranchised young people voted.

Of course, this was the first time they were able to vote in the country, so there’s always a possibility this was because of the novelty factor. However other countries such as Austria have also seen positive results for democracy from enfranchising 16 year olds.

Much of the dissatisfaction with Bradford’s proposal came from the view that 16 year olds, who are likely to be just starting their NCEA exams, are too immature to vote.

But a study published in the international journal Electoral Studies found “little evidence that these citizens are less able or less motivated to participate effectively in politics.”

Auckland University’s Jennifer Curtin agrees that young people can be mature enough for politics.

“Sometimes you see some sociobiological arguments about brain development and risk aversion and responsibilities, but I’m not sure I buy into it,” Curtin says.

“The problem is assuming that all young people are the same—are a bloc.”

Curtin says Bradford’s proposal to link universal civics education and a lower voting age would go some way to make sure they would be casting informed votes.

“I come from the perspective where we talk politics at home...if you were a 16 year old in a household with family members who weren’t political at all then [civics education] might help.”

RockEnrol’s Laura O’Connell Rapira notes the relationship between voting age and civics goes the other way too.

“If you’re gonna get people really fired up about their future...it would be a really good idea to also give them the right to vote while they’re still in these institutions where they’re learning about these things,” O’Connell Rapira says.

20 year old Connor McCarty thinks he was more interested in voting when he was in highschool than now.

“I remember thinking how bad it was then when I was 14 or 15 that I couldn't vote, I really wanted to vote for this party I thought I knew about.”

O’Connell Rapira says if 16 year olds see other people at their schools voting, and they’re learning about it in their civics classes, they’d be more likely to vote.

“The difficulty at the moment is that we lose people between the end of highschool and when they turn 18 and can go out and vote because not everyone goes to university”

O’Connell Rapira says while universities usually have good voting campaigns, there can be a lot more on students’ minds than politics.

“You are studying, and you have to work part time in order to pay rent, and you want a social life, and you have relationship, or you have extra-curricular activities, and you live in a cold, old, mouldy flat.”

“It’s really hard to find any time to engage in politics outside of that.”

Auckland Council’s Glyn Walters says better civics education could be an opportunity to increase people’s awareness of what council does.

“A lot of schools do teach civics in the social studies curriculum, but it tends to focus on the national parliamentary system, rather than the local government system.”

“Some young people don’t necessarily see the relevance of what Auckland Council and local government delivers for them”

Walters says Auckland Council’s Kids Voting project is partly an attempt to make up for the lack of local government civics education.

The elections manager says the kind of education that Kids Voting delivers could be an ideal pairing with a lowered voting age.

“The children that we are teaching in schools, they are aged 11-15 because the view of the educationalists is that is the time they can absorb that information the best,” says Walters.

“So you could argue then, that 16 is a logical time for people to start voting.”

If lowering the voting age does get people to vote younger, it should future-proof the next generation.

The Scottish referendum didn’t show an uptick in the turnout of young people over 18.

However, this could even out over time, as voting has been shown to be hard to quit.

A George Washington University young voter project claims that:

“One of the most robust empirical regularities discovered in political science is that past voting behavior is a good predictor of future voting behavior.”

O’Connell Rapira says the opposite can also be true.

Her own father never voted until she became involved in politics—and he probably never would have if it weren't for her.

“So there’s a really strong argument to be made to set the voting habit very very early on in order to carry it on.”

New Zealand’s parliament has a severe under-representation of young people.

Under-30s make up just 2% of parliament, even though they make up 17% of the voting age population.

It’s just as bad in councils too.

A 2012 Local Government New Zealand report called Mythbusters: Examining common assumptions about local government in New Zealand said:

 “Myth...Councils are run by white middle aged men”.

The report hastily concluded:

“As it turns out some myths are true, the majority of councillors are middle aged men.” 

Prior to the 2014 general elections, Laura O’Connell Rapira founded RockEnrol, a campaign encouraging young people to get out and vote.

The 28 year old says one of the reasons young people don’t vote is they can feel alienated by the political system.

“So that makes it very very difficult to kind of sell this idea that if you vote, your vote can make a difference, when in fact their life experience suggests otherwise.”

O’Connell Rapira says RockEnrol tried to tackle this alienation by getting young people to talk to other young non-voters. The campaign’s median volunteer age was just over 21.

“We had young people going into nightclubs, and student dorms, and hanging out where young people were to get them enrolled and to have conversations about politics—as one particular channel that people can create change,” she says.

“I think that we were filling a gap that candidates weren’t able to fill.”

The success of Auckland mayoral candidate Chlöe Swarbrick, who came third in September’s local body elections, was an important point for O’Connell Rapira.

“I think there is a really really strong argument that [Swarbrick] kind of proved...that we need more young people in the political system.”

Chlöe Swarbrick says while she aimed to engage the whole non-voter population in Auckland, she believes she has encouraged more participation in youth.

“I know that a number of people have enrolled for the first time, and voted for the first time in local government as a result of me running,” she says.

An Inter-Parliamentary Union analysis found low youth representation is a worldwide problem, with just 1.75% of the world’s MPs aged under 30.

So why aren’t there more young people running for political positions? Swarbrick says “it’s not on their radar”.

It wasn’t even on her radar for a long time, despite having clear ideas about what she wanted for the city.

“I was waiting for somebody who was, quote-unquote, ‘more experienced’, had the backing and the resources,” she said.

The recently graduated university student says the fact that media mainly focused on her age, rather than policies shows how foreign the concept of youth representation is for some.

“I think that’s perfectly indicative of why many young people don’t see themselves seriously, it’s because we’re patronised when we put ourselves forward for positions of leadership.”

Associate Minister of Local Government, Louise Upston made a call this year for more young people to stand as candidates.

Upston said it was important to have representative councils, and that many young people have a grasp of issues like racism.

McCarty says youth representation was something that sparked his interest before the local body elections.

“I think just younger people being involved at least gives you the notion that it’s not an old person’s game,” he says.

McCarty says young people are more likely to have a handle on the issues that other young people are concerned about. This means he’s more likely to see a benefit if his chosen candidate is elected.

“I think it would attract me to politics a bit more...it has at least, ever since hearing that [Swarbrick’s] running,” McCarty says.

This story has a happy ending: Swarbrick did indeed encourage 20 year old non-voter Connor McCarty to vote.