Ngā Pōti ā-Taiohi - Youth Voting 2019

Ngā Pōti ā-Taiohi - Youth Voting is designed to provide students with the chance to take part in an election with real parties, real candidates, and real issues, with the objective of assisting students to grow up to become active, engaged citizens. Designed for year 7-10 students, it replicates the local authority elections taking place in each area.

Schools that register will be provided with the resources to enable students to plan and conduct an election within their classrooms. Included will be an updated Teacher’s Guide and background information on how to contact local candidates and conduct local campaigns.

The project is designed to meet the “civics education” theme that runs through the existing school curriculum, and schools are encouraged to make provision for the programme as planning on next year’s curriculum is undertaken.

Once registered, teachers will begin to receive voting packs from 20 September 2019, the same day that NZ Post begins to deliver voting papers to households. This is approximately three weeks before polling day, which is on 12 October 2019. Those packs will include voting papers and also instructions on how to prepare for and conduct a classroom ballot.

For your information, voting must be completed by the last day of term three, which is Friday 27 September 2019. Ballot boxes are to be sealed until opened on the first day of term four, Monday 14 October 2019 (the day after provisional results from the elections will have been announced).