A general lack of interest and faith in politicians is being credited for younger generations failing to vote – something Bay of Plenty polytechnic staff and students are working at turning around.

Voter turnouts have fallen dramatically in New Zealand during the last three decades – from 85 per cent in 1981 to 69 per cent in 2011 according to the Electoral Commission

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic students and Young Labour members meet with Labour candidates Dr Rachel Jones, Clare Wilson and MP Jacinda Ardern. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Of 437,000 people recorded in the 18-24-year-old demographic, only 69.57 per cent – or 304,303 people – are enrolled to vote, as of February 2014.

This compares to the 97.24 per cent for those aged 50-54 and 98.26 per cent for 60-64 year olds.

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic student experience coordinator Kirsten Crossan is working at rectifying the voting decline by encouraging political debate at the polytechnic – inviting all local parties and candidates.

She sees the polytechnic-first as a way to build some youthful hype for voting along with providing opportunity for candidates to sell themselves.

'Absolutely, it's to get a little bit of hype around it and get a bit more understanding I guess. Just help them [students] realise who the local MPs are,” says Kirsten.

'They often don't know who is running or what they stand for.”

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic student Taylor Delamere is among a small group of students who are passionate about politics, taking it upon themselves to tackle the issue of youth voting.

Taylor admits he only began taking a keen interest in politics during the last 12 months after enrolling in a social policy paper and learning the difference between left and right wing parties.

The 20-year-old Bachelor of Social Work student believes it is important for younger people to vote, but feels there is currently a general lack of education around the topic.

'People just aren't educated and interested in politics, which is a shame because politics controls and governs their lives basically,” says Taylor.

'We are just raising awareness about politics, making our group known; showing we have a presence and anybody that is interested can come and talk to us.”

Electoral Commission communications and education manager Anastasia Turnbull says reasons for younger being non-voters include claiming to be 'too busy”, having no interest in politics and having little faith in politicians.

'Young non-voters are more likely to give ‘don't know the candidates' as a reason for not voting,” says Anastasia.

Looking forward the solution isn't simple, nor it is a 'silver bullet”, with issues around changing values and attitudes towards authority, civic duty, and politics, and changes in technology and obtaining information proving problematic.

But Anastasia says it is vital younger people understand voting gives them a chance to choose the parliamentary make-up and what MP's represent when it comes to decision-making.

'It doesn't get much more important than that. Young people are a huge part of our population, and their voice should be heard.

'It is important that they vote, and it is important they make the effort to work out who they should vote for.”