It's on!

The election is definitely happening on July 2, now that Malcolm Turnbull has made it official.

The Government, the Opposition and the minor parties are about to spend the next eight weeks frantically vying to win Australia's biggest popularity contest.

It's triggered a rush to enrol almost a million people who are eligible to vote, but aren't on the electoral roll.

The what?

The electoral roll.

Even though voting is compulsory in Australia, you can't do it unless you're enrolled with the Australian Electoral Commission.

If you're not on the roll within seven days of the writs being issued - by 8pm on May 23 - then IT'S TOO LATE and you won't be able to vote until 2019.

Leave me alone, I don't care

Okay, but young people are horrendously underrepresented on the electoral roll, which means politicians are less likely to make policy with you in mind.

In 2013, there were 400,000 Australians between the ages of 18 and 24 missing from the roll. That's one in five.

In fact, the the younger you are, the less likely you are to be enrolled.

"At the moment, there's one in two 18-year-olds and one in four 19-year-olds who aren't on the roll", according to Phil Diak from the Australian Electoral Commission.

Who else is missing out?

Altogether, there are about 955 000 Australians who aren't enrolled to vote.

The AEC's Phil Diak says that includes plenty of indigenous Australians.

"Our best estimate says that it's about 60 percent [of the indigenous community that's enrolled]".

"And if you consider that more than half of the total Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community is under 25, this indicates a low level of engagement among indigenous youth as well", he says.

Why bother?

There are enough unenrolled 18-24 year olds to change the outcome of the election in a number of seats.

For that reason, a bunch of organisations, some political and some not, have been pushing really hard to get young people on the roll.

Kirsty Albion from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition is hoping some of the first time voters they've signed up will take climate change into account on election day.

"In a lot of electorates around the country, particularly marginal ones, there are more young people not enrolled to vote than is the margin", she says.

If they enrolled to vote, they could switch an electorate or at least change the policies of the candidates that are running".

How do I enrol?

You can enrol online with the AEC - it's really really quick & easy.

Otherwise, you can pick up an enrolment form at any electoral office or Australia Post outlet.

Oh yeah, and don't forget to show up on July 2nd.