You’d think it would be even the most selfish of MPs’ interests to get everyone to register to vote. However, those who rely on older, more traditional voters to keep them in power, are probably all right with young people – or even young women – never voting.
This is why, plus the fact that it is your fundamental right as a citizen to vote, these are both great reasons to register today. It’s Voter Registration Day!
To help with the campaign, Facebook’s going to prompt all its UK users to register today.
And in the long term, MPs have suggested that the voter registration form (which, as far as government-owned web-forms go, is pretty easy) be made easier.
The Commons Political Reform Committee want people to be able to register on voting day itself by 2020. They also want voting day to be reconsidered – as it tends to be the first Thursday of May after a payday and many people might be too busy going out after work to get themselves into a primary school or local town hall to cast their vote. So the committee wants voting to be available on the weekends!
Graham Allen, Labour MP who heads the committee, said in a BBC report: ‘We are recommending that the government consider some radical changes, like online voting, holding elections at the weekend and letting voters register to vote on election day, because we believe a serious problem needs serious answers.’
It’s believed that up to a million potential voters might be ‘lost’ by a switch to what is meant to be an easier voter registration scheme. That’s why campaigners such as Bite The Bullet are looking to register 250,000 people today.
They said: ‘As this year’s campaign is taking place during the handover from “head of household” to individual registration, it’s never been more important to make people aware of the power they hold as engaged, active, registered citizens.’
Today isn’t the last day to register to vote (that’s Tuesday 21 April), but as a lot of people are pushing for it, go to gov.uk/register-to-vote and enter in your details – you’ll need your National Insurance Number. It’ll only take a few minutes.
Like this? You might also be interested in:
Young People, Students Make Up The ‘Missing Million’ Voters Who Are ‘Losing Their Rights’
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.