Strikers gathered in Aotea Square for a rally and march down Queen Street Auckland as a call for action on climate change.

Auckland councillors are grappling with the question of why most people aren't bothered enough to vote.

The council's analysis of the 2019 elections was not a happy read, even once you got past the headline number that almost two out of three eligible voters simply didn't vote.

The requirement to run the election using postal voting is one problem, but a survey showed that voting was not a priority in people's lives.

Stuff Auckland mayor Phil Goff says a "belief that it matters" is needed for many to vote.

One in five respondents "forgot" to vote.

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Just over a quarter of people said they would have been more likely to vote in a booth, like on general election day, while two-thirds favoured the still-illegal online voting.

SUPPLIED Postal voting is considered a factor in declining turnout in Auckland Council elections.

Councillors have to agree on suggestions they will make to the Government on how to improve local government's declining electoral magnetism.

Some of the figures are shameful. Fewer than 23 per cent of those in the poorest community, Otara, had their say.

"Our people are constantly telling us if it was online they would vote," Lotu Foli, the chair of the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board, told a council meeting.

"Our board supports at least having a trial, and any pilot should start in areas that had the lowest turnout."

The council's own $1.6 million effort to encourage awareness, enrolment, and helping to vote - target 40 per cent turnout - also fell short.

"One-stop-shops" at community events such as night-markets were often overwhelmed and ran out of papers.

"Lower socio-economic areas vote lower - wealthier communities have more of a say in how our city is run, that is unacceptable," Waitākere Ward councillor Shane Henderson told the meeting.

Others called for more education in schools about local government and voting - which is probably a long-shot.

Auckland mayor Phil Goff threw in a more likely reason, based on chats he had had with non-voters: the lack of "a belief that it matters."

This is territory that doesn't need law changes, and government action.

People are more likely to vote if they think it will make a difference, and here is where a council with bold and attention-grabbing ideas is likely to find people are tuned-in.

This month presents a perfect opportunity to start exciting and motivating Aucklanders about their future, and with an almost three-year wooing period before the next council election.

Councillors will start deciding the changes needed to slow global warming, and put the city on a more sustainable path with climate change action not just about science, but about improving the quality of daily life.

Few issues will be as politically challenging as this one. Council spending priorities must change, Aucklanders need to be persuaded to change how they get around.

Early indications are that last year's consultation on the council's Climate Action Framework has drawn a strong response from the young, Māori and Pasifika communities.

These are the people that history tells us are least likely to vote in a council election.

Will councillors over the next three years, heed the voices of those who will inherit their legacy, and perhaps attract more and lasting political engagement?

Or will they hear the voices of the past's traditional voters, the property-owning, older and wealthier Aucklanders, many of whom may be less enthusiastic about embracing a more climate-friendly lifestyle?