Election 2026: Do young people understand the power of the youth vote?

"Baddies vote."That's the message from two University of Auckland student leaders who say young people need to have a greater say in the decisions shaping their futures.Matthew Lee and Rhiannon Te Paea say a lack of political education, limited engagement from politicians and a feeling that their voices do not matter are among the reasons young people are disengaging from the voting system.Electoral Commission data revealed that as of 1 September, just 62.16 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds were enrolled to vote, leaving more than 166,000 people in that age group off the electoral roll.Māori voter participation (MVP) Data also showed that only 50.4 percent of rangatahi Māori were enrolled.Lee and Te Paea, who are both involved in student leadership at the University of Auckland, say the figures reflect a wider problem with how young people experience politics.Lee said he was surprised by the enrolment figures but understood why many young people felt disconnected from the political system."Young people have been used as a tool by politicians to score points with each other," he told RNZ."They use us as a tool, but they also don't really meaningfully engage with young people. They like to think that they know better than us."Lee said he had been told by politicians that young people did not yet live in the "real world"."Well, it's like, I pay my taxes. I live in this country. I've lived in this country. I was born in this country. How much more in the real world do you want me to be in?"He said attitudes like that could push young people away from politics, particularly when they already felt their opinions carried little weight.Matthew Lee says young people risk being left out of decisions that will shape their future if they don't vote.Supplied / Matthew LeeTe Paea said there was also a misconception that rangatahi Māori who were not enrolled did not want to vote."I think for a lot of us rangatahi Māori, we're just so keen to vote. Engari, how do we vote? How do we enrol?"She said supporting young people to participate required more than telling them to sign up.She drawed on the Māori concept of tuakana-teina, saying older generations had a role in helping younger people understand the process."There is some obligation from our tuakana to really stand up and take that role for their teina to support them in enrolling, to have wānanga, to have and host marae wānanga in which our teina are taught how to enrol, how to become politically literate, how to become politically informed as well."Te Paea said politics could sometimes feel distant from everyday life, particularly when it was viewed as politicians making decisions inside Parliament.But its effects were felt in communities, from the quality of local waterways and the environment surrounding marae to the rising cost of living.Rhiannon Te Paea says says voting is about being a good ancestor, and encourages rangatahi to "make rangatira decisions."Supplied / Ngā Tauira MāoriLee said many young people understood those pressures but questioned whether voting would change anything."Everyone understands that it is so difficult to live in Auckland now as a young person," he said."The message that I'm getting from young people is just, why should I vote? Because it wouldn't change a thing anyways."Lee encouraged rangatahi to think about who turns up to vote."You have to remember who was actually voting this election, right? If young people don't vote, landlords will be voting, and CEOs will be voting, and the super rich will be voting. So we need to make sure that it's not just their voice that counts, because our voice counts as well.""Everyone has the right to vote. Everyone has equal power and equal say in our democracy. Young people just need to make sure that we are represented in those polls as well."VNP / Daniela Maoate-CoxShould civics education be mandatory in kura?Both students say political education needs to start well before young people turn 18.Lee said New Zealand lacked mandatory civics education, leaving some young adults unfamiliar with how Parliament works, how to enrol and how to make an informed voting decision.He believed schools should teach students about democracy, the MMP system and the different ways people could participate in political processes.That could include mock elections, learning how to contact an MP or starting a petition."Democracy is not a simple concept, to be honest," he said."We have a responsibility to make sure that our young people know this political system that we exist in."Te Paea said her own political education came largely through her upbringing in Tairāwhiti, her connection to Ihumātao, her marae, iwi and the communities around her, rather than the classroom."Reflecting on my own journey with politics, I would say that the school education system never really had anything to do with my learning of the whole political sector in general. I think reflecting on my upbringing in Tairāwhiti, we're very political people. You know, Tā (Sir) Āpirana Ngata is one of our pivotal idols," she said."I think there is a huge gap within the education system related to teaching our tauira and our rangatahi about policy and politics, even legislation."Both said young people were not necessarily apathetic.Lee pointed to youth-led movements, including school climate strikes and community campaigns, as evidence that young people cared about issues affecting their futures."We just need to give them the education and the tools to learn how to use their passion and then turn it into real action as well," he said.Youth advocates and student leaders are calling for civics education to be mandatory in kura.RNZ / Ana ToveyBoth questioned whether politicians were meaningfully consulting young people when developing policies that would affect them for decades.Lee said young people needed to be involved in decision-making because they would inherit the consequences of decisions made today."If you don't vote, your voice doesn't count. So you're just guaranteeing the fact that your voice won't matter, right?""If you vote, then at least you're making a difference or, you know, at least you're contributing to that," he said."And if one person feels like their voice doesn't matter, chances are many other people don't as well. It just starts with one. It starts with one person realising that their voice has power and then the next and then the next."Electoral Commission figures show just over 62% of 18 to 24-year-olds are enrolled to vote. The figure is even lower for rangatahi Māori, with Māori Voter Participation data showing only half are enrolled.RNZ / Layla Bailey-McDowellBoth encouraged young people to talk to friends and whānau about enrolling and voting, rather than treating participation as an individual responsibility alone.Te Paea said rangatahi also had an obligation to future generations."We do have an obligation to our mokopuna, to our tamariki, to the generation that is to come. And therefore that forces us to make rangatira decisions. And this is one of those decisions that we're just going to have to make.We have to stand up and we have to vote because at the end of the day, how do we be good ancestors?""And so get out there and vote. But yeah, baddies vote.""Hot people vote," Lee added.The 2026 general election will be held on 7 November. Under the new rules, eligible voters must enrol or update their details by midnight on October 25 to vote, with voting places opening for advance voting on October 26.People who are not enrolled by the deadline will not be able to vote in this election.