Mike's Minute: Youth enrolment in the election is shocking

You may have noticed an element of concern, if not alarm, over the number of young people who are not enrolled in the election. 

In the 18-24 age group there are just 61% enrolled. Last time it was 77%. 

The Greens in particular have been running campaigns about this for obvious reasons. 

The trouble is their campaigns are on university campuses where the bright and active hang out, not, I suspect, where those who aren't enrolled hang out. 

There was also a conspiracy floated momentarily when Chris Luxon last ran into his leadership trouble. Just before the caucus vote there was a lot of angst over the plot, for that’s how they saw it, to overthrow Luxon and then call a snap election and the snap would leave thousands of young people un-enrolled. 

That conspiracy fell apart when, oh that's right, no such thing happened. 

There has also been the finger pointing over the enrolment rule changes and even though we still have well over three weeks to go its still, according to the aggrieved, not fair. 

Anyway, none of it is new. Young people have always been hopeless at enrolling and actually voting. 

It is sad but true, and as far as we can see nothing is changing this time. In fact it's getting worse. 

The important bit is how that plays out. It's entirely possible that the Greens, once again, are going to enhance their reputation as a party who polls well but doesn’t turn out the vote. 

While we're on polling, the immigrant vote will tell a story not really seen in polling either. 

Language is an issue and increasingly this country is a country of migrants, especially in Auckland. The migrant population is not well polled. 

How they vote, which is broadly conservative, might well swing the election in a way, that if you didn’t know that, would surprise you. 

Migrants work hard, strive for better and chase a dream. That’s a centre-right view of the world. Watch this space. 

But key advice – before Chlöe measures the curtains on the Finance Minister's office, she might want to drum up a few more Gen Z-ers to pull their finger out.