31 August 2016
Voter awareness campaign launches Show Your Love for Auckland – Vote.

That’s Auckland Council’s message to the city’s one million plus eligible voters in a multimedia billboard, radio, print and digital communications campaign launched today.

The $1.22 million campaign aims to reverse the tide of falling voter turnout in local body elections. In 2013 only 35.5% of Auckland’s eligible voters cast their ballot. The turnout was disappointing in the younger age groups.

“There are 450,000 eligible voters in the 18-39 age group. We know they are less likely to enrol and vote than the rest of the population and that those under 29 are even more disengaged,” says Auckland Council’s Elections Planning Manager Glyn Walters.

“We needed a circuit breaker that will reverse the trend of low turnouts and make voting relevant. When we tested the ‘show your love’ concept with a range of Aucklanders, it struck a chord. It captured people’s love for where they live and how they can show that love through voting and participating in our local democracy.”

Campaign initiatives include distinctive heart-shaped billboards and adshels strategically located across the length and breadth of the city with messages and imagery reminding people to love your Auckland, your beaches, your parks, your events, your city and where you live.

A converted classic kombi van, dubbed the Love Bus, is a key feature of the campaign. Decorated with some of the scenes Aucklanders love about their city, it is on the road for the next six weeks as Auckland Council reaches out to the broadest range of communities and provide information to eligible voters to encourage them to get involved and vote.

An online Kids Voting project in schools is in full swing as a way of introducing students to our political processes.

A dedicated website showyourlove.co.nz will have a section for voters to find out important information about the candidates for mayor, council and local boards and where a candidate stands on key issues. The information will be live from 16 September.

“The main reasons people give for not voting is not knowing enough about the candidates (31%), even more than those who said they ‘forgot or left it too late’ (24%), were ‘not interested’ or were ‘too busy’ (each 14%),” Mr Walters says. “We’re rectifying that and giving candidates the opportunity to provide information on their election platforms so voters can do their own research through the website showyourlove.co.nz.”

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