Local Government New Zealand is trying to find $1 million for a campaign to increase voter turnout at October's council elections.
It wants to run a campaign that would include television advertisements in the three weeks before the elections.
Local Government New Zealand manager of governance Mike Reid says election turnout has fallen since 2001, with more than half of eligible people not voting at council elections and a third of those people saying they simply forgot.
He says the body is disappointed it has already been turned down by about 20 local authorities.
