Entry received from: New Plymouth District Council
Category: The Datacom Award for Excellence in Digital Local Government
Local elections are the chance for our residents to choose the future of the New Plymouth District. Local representatives make decisions that, arguably, have the most immediate effects on our residents day-to-day lives.
Historically, that importance has not been reflected in voter turnout anywhere across the country, with numbers continuing to slump each year.
We were charged with halting that backwards slide in voter numbers for New Plymouth District Council’s 2022 elections. Building on our research, our three-phased digital-first campaign educated and inspired our previous non-voter audience before asking them to take action with their vote. The campaign achieved all objectives, with a first-of-its-kind website and digital activations, increasing actual voter numbers by 1600 compared with 2019. We also bucked the national trend of declining turnout.
Thank you to our category sponsor