Young people have been given a taste of voting to make them feel more at ease on September 23.
The Big Vote Party, presented by Te Waiariki Purea Trust, was held at Kuirau House yesterday. Te Waiariki Purea Trust paearahi Terere Aoake said the aim of the event was to encourage rangatahi to enrol and vote.
She said with all of the services the trust had, they were able to go through their books and see there were a lot of young people eligible to vote but had not yet enrolled.
The Big Vote Party was held to help young people learn the voting process and how to enrol.
She said many rangatahi did not respond well to doing things for the first time, and so the trust set up a polling booth to show them what it looked like.
It was up to the youths if they wanted to enrol to vote and it was all neutral, with no pushing of any political party in particular.
They were given one-liners on each of the parties' policies to help them understand what they stood for.
There was also free kai and an employee from the Electoral Commission was also present. The event had a great turn out, Ms Aoake said.
"In our line of work we have seen that a lot of our clients don't really understand the power their vote has.
"We encourage our rangatahi to get up and stand up for themselves, and this is an opportunity to do that."
She said the trust wanted to teach young people that their vote mattered and she hoped everyone got out to vote by September 23.
Te Rina Whakatau, 18, said the event had been cool and was family orientated.
She said she was now enrolled to vote and had taken a look at the polling booth set up: "it's pretty easy".
Henry Whyte, 18, said he had come along to enrol. The event had been entertaining and he learned a lot about voting for the first time, he said.
Next Friday, Te Waiariki Purea Trust will provide transport for anyone who would like to do advance voting.
Those interested can phone 0800 884 7782.