“Young voices are being silenced” – Miliband releases new voter registration figures

Today is National Voter Registration Day. With more than 1 million people falling off the electoral register since the last general election (due to the government’s introduction of individual voter registration) Ed Miliband has outlined in an article for the Independent what Labour want to do to address this.

To coincide with this, Labour have published new figures which show the size in the drop of the number of young people who aren’t being added to the electoral register under the Coalition’s new law. It’s estimated that between March and May 2015, the number of 16- to 18-year-olds added to the electoral register will be down by over 100,000 compared to 2014.

This could mean that less than half of those young peopled who are eligible to vote will be registered to do so.

This same data documents how many of this same demographic group are on the electoral register in specific areas: for example Norwich and Nottingham have had a 95% fall in the number of those 17 year olds who will be eligible to vote registering to do so , while in Plymouth the figure plummeted by 98% and in Manchester by 90%.

Miliband commented on these figures, explaining:

“Even on the most optimistic estimate, the changes this government has forced through will mean that when young people turn 18, less than half of them are likely to be registered.
 
This is not just a scandal, it is a disaster for our democracy.
 
This General Election will have huge consequences for the young. The result will affect education and training at schools, colleges and universities. It will have an impact on the quantity and quality of jobs available afterwards. It will affect the rent paid for a first home and the chances of buying one.
 
Yet it precisely these young voices which are being silenced.” 

Miliband goes out to outline what Labour would like to see local authorities do to rectify this. The proposals include:

• Making schools and colleges legally obligated to give details of students approaching voting age to electoral registration officers.
• Encouraging universities to registers as a block students living in halls of residence
• Trial election-day registration.

You can register to vote here.