Lowering the voting age to 16 was one of the significant changes proposed to strengthen the local government system and improve New Zealand's dismal voter turnout.
The Future for Local Government Review released a draft report with 29 recommendations to get more people to vote in local elections.
Councils around the country have tried all sorts of things to get young people engaged.
But while they might make for a good laugh, if September's local election turnout was anything to go by it's simply not working.
"Voter turnout is such an indicator of our engagement and strength of local democracy and seeing a declining turnout over the years is just not ok," Local Government NZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said.
The total voter turnout was below 40 percent in 2022 and to fix that The Future for Local Government Review has recommended some bold changes.
One of the major recommendations was to lower the voting age.
"There needs to be greater diversity in our councils and broader representation, whether that be demographic or cultural representation," review chair Jim Palmer said
Make it 16's Caeden Tipler has been campaigning for that change and is taking this as a win.
"This is a huge step forward for our campaign there's never been any recommendation like this before," Tipler said.
The review doesn't just call for the voting age to drop, it also recommended some other changes including extending council terms to four years, having the electoral commission run local elections and giving mana whenua a seat at the table.
"The system was last overhauled 30 years ago and it is not fit for today's world let alone the future," Freeman-Greene said.
Feedback on the draft report closes next February and Freeman-Greene wants submitters to think big.
"What we want to see is a final review that's bold and brave."
One that will get Kiwis more engaged.
