Does Voting Cost ?
When people see this question they normally say no, but surprisingly it can cost and can be very costly not to vote. The reason I say that is due to what we are voting for - the government which can provide and take away from us 'the people' whenever they want.
We as young people do not vote on mass which makes our age vulnerable to governmental decisions such as creating tuition fees and taking provisions away from young people, as the governing party has less to lose than taking provision away from the rest of voters. The question of compulsory voting is casually raised and whether it would be a legal obligation to vote like in many countries across the world. I don’t think this would be beneficial for the system as people may use their vote as a protest vote or they may spoil their ballot.
Political education I believe needs to be improved as does the way it is taught in many schools, which is currently through boring means. If political education could be more practical and seen to be effective i.e. through school councils, I believe that young people will be active politically for life.
The number of young people voting in other elections, for example the 2006 United Kingdom Youth Parliamentary elections, was more than the mayoral elections for that area. Young people do care about things but more but on an issue to issue basis and maybe political parties are more over-reaching in order to catch all, and people agree with issues across the political spectrum.
I feel the way to move forward is to engage better with the seated politicians and show them we would like to make a difference; as to what I have experienced - the more you work with them, the more you can get or achieve. The importance of the vote is the fact that we as voters on election day are the most powerful people in the country in that we can have a say to who will gain a seat or if someone hasn’t done a great job and vote them out. We as young people need to become active in the process in order to gain more from government but also to stick up for ourselves and to lobby government on issues which need highlighting.
As said voting costs, but if young people are active politically and lobby politicians and vote we can stick together to get more done for our future and make them give to us more than they take.
