A discarded poll card

 First time voters or first time abstainers? That is the looming question for many young people as politicians gear up for the election trying desperately to encourage the public to vote for their party. For the young people of the future during election time they are faced with a tough decision. But this decision is not what party they should vote for, but whether they can be bothered to vote? Reporter ARAMINTA HARTLEY investigates.

Falling participation in the parliamentary elections is a cause for concern as turnout has fallen from an all time high of 83.9 per cent in 1950 to a low of 59.4 per cent in 2001.

The rise of non-voting has been established in all age groups, but more specifically the young. Shockingly at the last general election, more than half of 18 to 24-year-olds did not vote, with a large minority not even registered to do so. The Government was supported by just over a third of the voters and rejected by nearly two-thirds of the voters. The 35 per cent figure was actually lower than what Labour gained at many elections, yet subsequently lost.

The media’s constant reports of slanging matches between politicians and the revelations of their expenses have corrupted their reputation as trustworthy representatives for their parties. Yet the main problem is the issues handled by Government affect electors of all ages but the main challenge they face is young people seem less interested in politics than their elders.

The routine of voting becomes more acquired as people get older, with it being viewed as a habit that must be carried out. However the first major obstacle that a young person must overcome is getting on the electoral register. One dilemma young people possibly face are once having registered at home they are away at University when the election takes place.

But for those students in the know, you can be registered at home and at University to ensure you use your vote. The difference in attitudes towards voting relates to the time difference as young people have alternative political ideas as issues such as youth culture interest the majority of teenagers rather than work and family commitments that shape an adult’s outlook.

In contrast, in 1918, British men were granted the right to vote at 21, and had already been working for years; while most women aged 30 and above, who were then first granted the right to vote had already been working or raising a family for over a decade.

Now, less than 15 per cent of 16-year-old school leavers actually find full-time employment, with 57 per cent staying in full-time education and the remaining 28 per cent are either on a youth training scheme or unemployed.

The current Government proposals to make education compulsory until 18 will reduce the time that young voters have to gain life skills and further increase the delay in achieving adult status.

This highlights the need for a more thorough education on citizenship and politics within schools.

Guy Williams, National Council Training of Journalism (NCTJ) politics lecturer and journalist said: “I think the education system should be changed. There are an insufficient number of schools that pay attention to the importance of politics at school so I think that the political system in the country should be taught as a compulsory subject in my view. From say the age of 13 or 14 onwards and if people understood politics and the importance of the decisions politicians take they would show much more interest”

However this might risk cutting back on core subjects by trading in-depth teaching on a limited number of subjects to a brief cover of a wide spread of subjects. Mr Williams continued: “It is very worrying that young people don’t vote because a lot of decisions taken by government affect young people and really they should show an interest, they are obviously to blame for the decline.”

During the 1997 election, the youth-oriented electoral registration campaign ‘Rock The Vote’ reported that, despite their success in getting a 6% increase in voter registration, the youth vote was the lowest it had been since the 1920s.

Former Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine expressed the belief that young people today were suffering from ‘ignorance and alienation’ because they project a ‘don’t care culture’ towards the world.

Mr Williams said: “At the end of the day I suppose young people think ‘well whatever I say, the politicians and the government are going to do something completely different’.”

The young appear to have a very low opinion of politicians and politics. They believe politicians tend not to listen to what they say and they feel their own views are rarely taken into account during the policy making process. Claims usually by politicians or journalists express the idea that more young people vote for reality TV shows than in general elections.

According to programme-makers Endemol, there were 6,363,325 votes cast during the 2004 live final of Big Brother 5. However 27,128,130 votes were cast in total the 2005 general election.

Yet research by MORI showed 5,696,907 who said they were “absolutely certain to vote” in the 2005 election were aged between 18 and 34. So if we assume all the viewers of the Big Brother final are aged 18-34, the programme received more votes by young people than in the general election.

But since the Representation of the People’s Act 1969, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, all parties were keen to develop a youthful image. As a result, in the October 1974 election, 17 per cent of Conservative candidates, 14 per cent of Labour candidates and 22 per cent of Liberal candidates were under 30.

However, in the 1997 election, only 11 candidates (10 Labour and one Conservative) under 30 were elected, which was only 1.6 per cent of all MPs. The three major political parties post-war used to have large youth sections; however, today they are declining in size.

In 1989 the Labour party terminated the existence of the Young Socialists and in the 1970’s the Liberal Party was regularly challenged by their own youth, including criticising the party hierarchy. With Labour and the Conservatives forced to close parts of their youth sections this undermines the ability of young people to influence party debate and affect policy within political parties.

However, if the parties decided to focus their attention on attracting large numbers of young people they would subsequently alienate their current supporters; the aged.

Apart from their policies, the actual process of voting has been viewed as factor as to why young people don’t vote, as it fails to take into account a young person’s lifestyle.

The introduction of internet or mobile-phone voting would be more accustomed to a young person daily life although it would create problems concerning registration and verification.

Guy Williams said: “I do feel that young people are using mobile phones all the time and computers all the time, these could be used to spread the message and also encourage people to vote. I mean why shouldn’t vote online. I am sure there would be some drawbacks to the scheme but why not vote by mobile phone and texting to attract the younger generation.”

Concerning new technology, the growing influence of YouTube in UK Politics is growing as politicians are quickly adapting to a new form of communication with its voters.

Keeping up in the digital age, to avoid becoming an analogue prime minister in a digital age as Cameron suggested remarked, Gordon Brown is now embracing sites such as YouTube to interact with voters.

One of the first politicians to welcome this new technology was David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, who continues to update his vlogging channel Webcameron and document his life behind the scenes.

YouTube will continue to grow as a campaigning tool and during the 2010 UK general election the role it plays will become more significant.

Yet the change in societies and cultures concerning the young have become the forefront of radicalism since the 1960’s.

With the hippy culture, political radicalism and lifestyle changes indicated a change in way young people led their life. The traditional ways of life were disregarded for a more youth led society. This continued into the 70’s with the punk cult and the Yuppies in the 80’s.

Young people still continue to be involved in this radical culture with their views and own forms of politics reflecting the current world they live in.

Single issue groups have seen an increase in their membership, particularly among young people. Membership of Greenpeace has increased from 80,000 in 1987 to 215,000 in 1998, with the greatest growth being seen in youth membership.

The reason young people are not voting maybe that they have not had sufficient time, encouragement or opportunity to develop their own political identity by the time they face their first general election. Being less likely to have or experience traditional sources such as work, family.

Therefore, young people are not at fault for appearing uninterested at election time but it is the fault of politicians and the British education system for not adapting to the rapidly changing society of the young and being set in their traditional ways which have proven to be ineffective.

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