Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon wants to entice young Maori people to vote by using electronic voting methods.
To mark Matariki - the Maori New Year - Mr Foon convened the Tuitui Korero political debate to encourage more young Maori in the Tairawhiti region to cast their votes in this year's general elections.
The debate featured six Maori politicians, including three party leaders.
Mr Foon said he was happy a few rangatahi in the audience raised the question of voting via the internet, which he believed was a clear way of getting rangatahi involved because they mainly used digital technology to interact with people.
New Zealand was behind the times, and political parties should be embracing electronic voting, he said. The census was a good example of using online technology.