voting – The Orbital

Make your mark and register to vote this Autumn!

30Oct

By Alex JonesNo Comments

Features

Make your mark and register to vote this Autumn!

Social media. Phones. The internet. We live in an interconnected world in which everyone has an opinion and are one click away from showing it off for everybody to see. Why then is voter turnout, especially in the 18-24 age group slowly decreasing? We all clearly want to express our opinions but it seems we’ve lost the ability to do this in a meaningful way. Don’t get us wrong; we are fed up of talking about Brexit and for people who are interested in politics we are both bored and deeply upset with the political situation in Britain at the moment. And that is why we are going to vote. Knife crime, poverty, the NHS, cuts to education funding, climate change and a deeply divided society are issues we all face in this country at the moment. These are the issues that we all care abo...

29Jul

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Opinion

Voting: Restrictions Apply

The introduction of a scheme to force all voters to show a form of ID at polling elections during the May local elections is unneccesary and exclusionary. This scheme was introduced earlier this year and is being trailled in Watford, Bromley, Gosport and Woking before planning to make the scheme country-wide. While forcing voters to have ID seems like a good idea in principle, it doesn’t work when applied to real people who will be significantly adversely affected by it. Voting ID restrictions are meant to maintain the integrity of the ballot box, as many politicians all over the world have said, and at first glance it does do exactly that. After all, who doesn’t have a form of ID? In this ever-changing modern world, it is expected that every person has a passport, a driving license or at...

2Oct

By Bethany GoodingNo Comments

Opinion

The Ballot Box Advantage

On the 8th of June, an unprecedented number of 18-24 year olds turned up to vote in the general election Theresa May had called for just two months earlier. The following day people took to Twitter claiming that 72% of young people had voted in the snap election. Although this figure is now believed to sit at around 66%, this remains the highest turnout for young people in 25 years. The rise of young voters was also seen in the EU referendum when 64% of under-25s voted. This is still such a small number when compared to the 90% of those aged over-65 who voted. In the referendum, 71% of under-25s voted Remain compared to 36% of over-65s, so it stands to reason that the outcome could have been significantly different if there were a higher number of younger voters. These facts have cause...

7Jun

By No Comments

Opinion

Post it and Politicise.

For many, the General Election was the first opportunity to participate in voting and this, unsurprisingly, led to many using Social Media to share this experience. Facebook allowed users to post that they had voted and alongside this write a message or comment. I saw many of Facebook friends take up the opportunity and comments ranged from paying homage to the Suffragettes, to a more general celebration of being able to vote. This eagerness was somewhat surprising to me as it is often said young people aren’t interested in politics. However, with this eagerness came those who wish to criticise and this is what led to me writing this piece. A minority chose this opportunity to make fun of those who had written their political opinions via Facebook. One is particularly prominent in my m...