OUSA president Francisco Hernandez has made getting more students to vote in the local body elections in September and October one of his priorities.
In the past there had been campaigns encouraging people to vote but nothing aimed specifically at students, he said.
''There will be a targeted, two-pronged campaign, to first get students enrolled and then voting ... and we will be talking to students about the issues in a student way,'' Mr Hernandez said.
If students understood what was at stake during local body elections they would be more inclined to take part, he said.
''Last year I ran the campaign against the North Dunedin liquor ban and we had 5000 students sign up to oppose it, so there are issues students really care about.''
An ideal outcome from the campaign would be more pro-student councillors, he said. Only 47% of 18 to 24-year-olds in the Dunedin North Electorate are enrolled to vote, compared with 73% overall.
Registrar of electors for Dunedin North and Dunedin South electorates Dee Vickers said students were continually targeted by the Electoral Commission to get them enrolled to vote.
''It's really hard to get that age group of 18 to 24-year-olds to buy into the whole electoral process,'' Ms Vickers said.
She said the commission had worked with the student association in the past and would be very happy to work with it again.
With the Maori electoral option open, the commission had already been targeting the student area.
''It has been a bit of a two-pronged approach ... talking to people about the Maori roll and about the local body elections,'' she said.
DO YOU THINK STUDENTS WILL VOTE IN LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS THIS YEAR?
Rosie Miller (21, left) and Kate Crawford (21) geography and commerce students ... Both say because most students are not from Dunedin they don't worry about the city too much, but if the mayor or others from the council talked to students on the campus, people might be a bit more aware of the issues.
