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elections nz

What Would Get Our Generation to Vote This Election?

VICE hit the streets to ask what issues would drive young New Zealanders to the voting booth.

We're now less than two weeks out from the election, with polls showing a tight drag race between New Zealand's two biggest parties. Labour and National are now neck in neck for both preferred leader and party vote, and with just a few tight percentage points in it, the elusive "youth vote" could become a decider.

But as the days tick down to September 23, a quarter of a million young voters still aren't even enrolled. A whopping 37 percent of 18-24 year-olds didn't vote in the last election. You know who did vote? Old people. 86 percent of those aged 65+ turned up to the ballot box in 2014.

This year, we hit the streets to ask young New Zealanders what issues they care about in the upcoming election. Topping the list were housing, the climate and environment. But people were also talking about mental health, poverty and inequality, LGBTQ rights and drug reform as the issues that would take them to the voting booth. Check out what they had to say above.