Give youth a good reason to vote

There is a belief that young people don’t care enough to cast a ballot. But maybe politicians need to address the issues they care about.

At least 64 countries are scheduled or expected to hold national elections in 2024. Nearly half of the world will head to the polls. But will people show up?

A study by the University of Essex and University of Montreal showed a 10% decline in global voter turnout since the 1960s. Similar decreases have been noted in the country database of the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

More puzzling is that 18–35 is the age group most absent despite research showing that politics is an issue close to their hearts. The UK election recorded a just over 72% voter turnout in 1945 but dropped to just over 67% in the 2019 election. The British Election Study showed the lowest turnout was under 34s. About 55% of 18–24 and 54% percent of 25–34 participated for that same year.

The Centre for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) poll found that 57% of youth ages 18–34 say they’re “extremely likely” to vote in 2024.

The story goes that younger generations are apathetic. The narrative portrays young people’s failure to vote and to engage in electoral processes and referenda as reflecting a problem with their attitude and lifestyle.

Pen and paper in the digital age

The problem is not really with young people but with the way that electoral politics are set up. The system is globally outdated in more ways than one.

Ed Bracho-Polanco, senior lecturer in communication at the University of Westminster, pointed out that voting still involves many antiquated pen-and-paper forms and cut-off dates for registration.

“The problem here is much more focused on the electoral political system and how it works,” Bracho-Polanco said. “It argues for a sort of reform in the electoral system. You know an introduction maybe to rolling register, the use of newer technology. Maybe not having to go to work on polling stations but to be able to vote from home or from a supermarket, from a coffee shop, online.”

Political parties’ campaigns, in the traditional sense, are “boring” to young people, he said. They do not speak to this demographic’s interests, which results in waning interest. As a result, this demographic does not feel they want to be part of a party and engaged politically in a formal way.

In the UK, 18–24 accounted for 4% of the Labour Party and 5% of the Conservative Party in 2019. CIRCLE’s 2018 pre-election poll found that only 56% of 18–24s choose to affiliate with the Democratic or Republican parties.

Focus on issues relevant to young people.

Bracho-Polanco said younger generations are more concerned with identity politics than party politics. To him, the political and electoral systems have not grown or evolved at the same pace or in accordance with the new sensitivities and interests of the younger generations.

“Before you vote, you want to be well informed about each of their candidates or each of the party policies,” he said. “They tend to focus a lot on tax finances, macroeconomics and microeconomics, foreign policy.”

Young people are more interested in issues of gender, Bracho-Polanco said. “What is the policy of the ex-party towards these issues of gender?” he said. “Towards racism, towards homophobia, towards hate speech and bigotry? Towards homelessness and poverty, also towards the environment. I think that is a really big and loaded topic that’s hardly a part of the campaign processes and narratives. I sense that it’s something that younger generations are interested in.”

Bracho-Polanco argues that these political campaigns become irrelevant, in particular the kind of discussions and the propositions that politicians from the main parties are proposing.

“So you could argue that these political parties and their discourse and their politics have become so irrelevant to this group of young people, millennials and post-millennials, that they decide to avoid participation in large numbers,” he said.

“One could make the case that young people are apathetic, not so much out of sort of an interest in other things or becoming depoliticized but in fact, it’s actually the politicians and the political parties that for them, for young people, are indifferent, are not interested towards them, are complacent and that their campaign is more focused on older generations.”

Unsavory options

The appetite for voting diminishes when the candidates are unappealing for various reasons. An uninteresting competition can result in an uninterested electorate.

The options on the ballot may be unsatisfying and simply choosing ‘a lesser evil’. Victors are crowned in a democratic election when they typically garner the most votes or, in the case of the United States, gain the most electoral college votes. Inherently, the majority rule can alienate the minority.

Matt Aubry, executive director of the Organization of Responsible Governance in The Bahamas, said that  this factor can be at play more when there are two dominant and influential parties, but neither party’s policy and message resonates with young voters. This leaves young people feeling unrepresented and detached by the system.

“If you are a centrist, if you are looking at different perspectives, finding where to carve that niche out is challenging,” Aubry said. “The process of raising funds of, either a position or a candidate. These are daunting things that again, if you don’t have the backing of the bigger parties is not necessarily an easy process and the back and forth between the two parties become so voracious that it boxes out almost any real, other dialogue.”

Research and academic studies have established a link between public trust and electoral indifference. Voters can be disillusioned by the system and government, believing it is corrupt. A lack of trust in the government and elected officials can be a deterrent as people may feel discouraged that their vote can make a change if the system has not changed.

Show youth that their voice matters.

Aubry said that his organization is trying to address the problem of public trust.

“How does public trust affect people’s involvement, both locally and nationally or in any other way, if you don’t trust that the system works for you?” he said. When people feel that the candidates don’t represent them or their interests voting feels disheartening and disempowering, he said.

Five years of feeling like your voice doesn’t matter will make someone reluctant to vote. “Again, when we’ve seen a pattern of everybody votes for one party then people don’t tend to feel the power of their individual choice,” he said.

Social media reinforces this sense of individualization. The idea of collective action works against the idea that an individual has power, he said. While the objective of civic education is not to persuade people to vote, civics teaches the part everyone plays in democracy.

Many researchers have identified a lack of quality civic education as one of the underlying issues for civic participation. Kansas State University study found that 18- to 24-year-old groups were more politically active during the 2008 U.S. election season through new media, but were not more politically knowledgeable.

Declining democracy

Some students, according to the study, said Guantanamo Bay was a Caribbean resort — not knowing it was a naval base with a detention center.

“So including and ensuring that civics and local civic engagement and civic activity is embedded in curriculums is key,” Aubry said. “Working across sectors to ensure that the messaging and opportunities for involvement are consistently made available and that there are dynamics at play that reinforce the participation of groups that people can identify with.”

Voter apathy is declining as democracy is declining or stagnating globally. IDEA indicated almost half of the 173 countries surveyed had suffered a decline in at least one key indicator of democratic performance in the past five years. It must be noted, though, that academic research has not linked voter apathy to this degradation.

Bracho-Polanco said that he’s seen a weakening of liberal democracy and the rise of non-liberal democracy and authoritarian populism.

“We’ve seen the rise of that, which means that globally I think that the political sphere will be impoverished which means that it might come very soon, or many countries that’s their reality there are no elections or elections every day, you know, they’re not transparent,” Bracho-Polanco said. “They’re not fair. They’re rigged so they’re not really democratic elections, it is just a kind of technical formality.”

Once that takes hold, he said, younger people start valuing the right to vote much more and fight for it and struggle. When authoritarian populism threatens basic rights like freedom of speech, he said, young people realise the importance and value of voting.

Correction: Due to an editing error, a version of this story published earlier incorrectly stated the percentage of youth 18-34 who say they are “extremely likely” to vote in 2024 in the Centre for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) poll. 

Three questions to consider:

1. What is one reason young people don’t vote in higher numbers?
2. How could governments increase the percentage of young people who vote?
3. Would you describe yourself as apathetic? What issues do you care about?

Earyel Bowleg graduated in 2019 with a BA (Hons) Journalism. She has worked in various countries such as Canada, UK and The Bahamas. She has nearly five years’ worth of experience in both print and broadcast journalism.