Is Howick a model to boost voting in Auckland?

Monday, 27 August 2018

The Howick Youth Council-organised candidate meeting could be a future template for boosting voting turnout.

The by-election underway in Auckland Council's Howick Ward raises a $1.2 million question about next year's local body elections in Auckland – and may offer some answers.

The six-figure sum is what the council spent in 2016 on its campaign to get candidates and voters excited.

I disagreed with the council's finding that the 'Show your Love' campaign was a success, lifting voter turnout from a miserable 34.9 per cent, in 2013, to 38.5 per cent.

Auckland Council officials took heart from beating the 1.3 per cent average lift achieved in other cities.

* Auckland Harbour Bridge an example of small thinking we can't repeat

* Auckland's Airbnb rate: a pot of gold or a problem?**

The question is, how do you get Aucklanders to care and be engaged enough to vote, and is a big spend by the council the most effective way to reach those least likely to do so?

One of the biggest information campaigns in the Howick Ward is being run by the volunteer Howick Youth Council.

It organised the first of two public candidate meetings, and the slick interactive elements made it the most engaging campaign meeting I'd attended.

Audience members on smartphones took part in spot questionnaires, with their responses displayed in real-time on a large screen.

At the close, the screen showed 40 per cent had changed their mind on who to vote for.

Youth Council chairman Zachary Wong said his group used software that cost about $80 and created the interactive element itself.

More than 400 people dipped into the live Facebook feed of the event at some point.

A series of videos running on the Howick Youth Council's Facebook page had had 5500 views at the start of the official three-week voting period.

The council's 2016 'Show your Love' engagement campaign reached 24,000, according to a council report, in a city of about one million voters.

Research on who does actually vote in local body elections is skimpy, but in general elections the least likely to turn out are the young and the non-Pākehā.

Auckland Council surveyed 1259 residents after the 2016 election, and more than half of the 35 per cent who said they hadn't voted had actually intended to.

Not knowing enough about candidates or policies and either forgetting to vote or missing the deadline were the most-cited reasons.

The council might engage more potential hard-to-reach voters if it diverted some of its corporate spending on turnout campaigns, or support, to local groups better-tuned to their constituencies, be they youth or ethnic communities.

Leroy Beckett, a convenor of the youth-focussed Generation Zero lobby group, didn't want council funding for its campaign activities, which have included scorecards of candidates' responses.

Beckett liked the approach taken in 'Show Your Love' and thought it the best effort yet by the council.

The council seems set to continue the approach taken in 2016, with a campaign aimed at linking what people 'love' about Auckland with participation in the 2019 election.

The detail should be decided by October, with an advertising agency still to be chosen, and plans to work with community groups to get the voting message through.

The Howick by-election has shown what can be achieved at a micro level by local groups with few resources.

Auckland Council should have a closer look at that approach.