If nobody voted, we’d lose all foundations of society and democracy. You know this, but, chances are, as a student, you stayed away from the polling booths last week. Statistically, you were only 47% likely to vote – that’s a decrease of 7% from the last elections. Youth and student voter turnout is at an all time low. Clearly, this is something to be tackled, so I’m going to explore potential ways to bring it back up.
The first thing to do is to acknowledge the barriers students face to voting in the first place. From a personal and anecdotal point of view, simple inconvenience is a major obstacle for us students. It takes forward planning to register to vote or change your address, something which, last year, I and many other students I know just didn’t have the foresight to do. That said, this year I did successfully register and vote, and can confirm that the process is smooth and easy – signing up takes a maximum of five minutes out of your day, and then it’s just a quick trip to the booths and back. The issue is that people don’t realise this; last year I was under the false impression that registering was a long, complicated and overly bureaucratic process. It might be a good idea, then, to raise awareness of how simple it actually is to vote.
Unfortunately, pretty much the opposite has happened
Unfortunately, pretty much the opposite has happened. I write this as someone who possesses quite a few of the documents now required by the government to legally vote. Thanks to a recently passed motion, you now need to show ID at the polling booths to prove your eligibility. Though theoretically this doesn’t make anybody less eligible, it does create an extra barrier, turning away people who would need to go through more hassle to apply for the correct paperwork, or people who are eligible but are unsure of this. The warnings you see on social media about bringing ID only serve to foster a more hostile environment towards potential voters. The process needs to be made smoother, not more complicated, since often students just don’t bother.
But maybe the problem also lies with not just the physical act of voting, but also the political effects (or lack thereof) it entails. Many students believe that voting “doesn’t make a difference” – I’ve even fallen victim to this thought pattern, assuming that all student areas will automatically be Labour so it doesn’t matter whether I vote or not. In honesty, because of our first past the post system, there is an element of truth to this, but it also really does stand true that every vote counts. A long-term way to combat this belief is through education – there’s a positive statistical correlation between more civic education in schools and youth vote turnout. In comparison to other countries like Germany, Norway and the Netherlands, in the UK we have negligible compulsory hours of civic education, and a 20% lower rate of youth turnout to show for it.
The current Conservative leadership would very likely see its vote share fall if more young people voted
Of course, there’s a sneaky catch 22 hidden in all this. Improving student voter turnout requires government action (like education), but the current Conservative leadership would very likely see its vote share fall if more young people, who typically tend to be more left wing, are inclined to vote. Even the new ID requirement has more options for older people, like bus passes, than younger people. What a surprise that more isn’t being done to boost turnout. Yes, this does go against the spirit of democracy. Writing this right now, it’s actually this realisation that has incited me to vote more than ever, out of anger. We need to inspire more young people to feel this anger, to keep our democracy fair.
