this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2024
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UK Politics

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Maybe that's the plan?

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[–] NickwithaC@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

No maybe about it OP. They've been trying various different methods to invalidate the young vote. That's a time bomb, as those young people become middle aged they're going to have to resort to even worse means of suppression.

[–] Jackthelad@lemmy.world -2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

What "young vote"?

The majority don't bother.

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

A lot of people under 30 feel that none of the parties represent them in the least. Personally I just suck it up and vote for whoever seems the least shitty.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world -4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

And then complain loudly on social media that they don't have a voice.

[–] Alto@kbin.social 9 points 7 months ago

It's almost as if those are likely not the same person, considering we're talking about a grouping that contains millions

[–] Oneeightnine@feddit.uk 16 points 7 months ago

One of the reasons BoJo called for an election on the 19th December for sure. Lots of students are at home rather than at university and it can be a real pain in the arse to move that stuff around at short notice.

[–] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 14 points 7 months ago

They've definitely fired up the number-crunch-omatic-4000 to calculate the dates that ~~disenfranchise fewer conservatives compared to others~~ best suit the voting public.

[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social 10 points 7 months ago

Of course it's the plan.

[–] mannycalavera@feddit.uk 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Unable to vote? Are they ineligible for postal votes?

Maybe I should read the article 🤣.

Edit:

They also say that an October election – potentially just two or three weeks after freshers’ week in many university towns – would not leave local councils enough time to put many thousands of new student addresses on the electoral register.

Oh ok that makes more sense. In that case register before you go to uni and do a postal vote. It just depends how much you care about voting Vs being young and care free. I know I wouldn't have bothered (and didn't) until after university anyways.

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This is bad, potentially they should reconsider the election date.

However I think there is a deeper issue here where young people disenfranchise themselves by not voting. Both major parties are pitching all of their policies to OAPs because they are the most consistent portion of the electorate to turn out at the polls.

I remember during my masters degree asking the other students at the pub who had voted in the local elections that day and it was literally just me out of ~20 people! Obviously general elections are different but if you don't participate in the system it won't cater to you.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 2 points 7 months ago

That's why I hate it when people my age don't vote. They're obviously not going to care about you if you won't bother heading down to the polling station.

[–] tabular@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Young people may disenfranchise themselves for other reasons but so does the system itself when you don't want a main party. Voting 3rd party has the same affect as staying up late and sleeping in on the day.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 7 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, last week hinted at a possible election October date during questioning by a House of Lords select committee.

Paul Greatrix, registrar of the University of Nottingham, told the Observer that if an election was called for mid-October he did not think the data could be processed in time.

With data suggesting that thousands of student voters had fallen off the electoral roll as a result of the new rules, many universities have introduced a system to sign ­students up automatically.

This requires every student to tick a box when they enrol at the university at the start of each year if they want their details to be passed on to their local ­council to ­register them to vote.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) think tank, said: “You now need to be pretty organised to apply for ID and register to vote in time, and not many young people on the cusp of a major change in their lives will be.”

Students have proved ­decisive in some university towns, for instance helping Labour to win both Canterbury and Leeds North West in 2017 and hold them in 2019.


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