Electoral Register: Young People
(asked on 25th April 2018) - View Source
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to increase public awareness of voter registration in England at the age of 16 in the last 12 months.
This question was answered on 29th May 2018
Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are responsible for maintaining a complete and accurate electoral register. Many EROs undertake effective democratic engagement activities with young people and other population groups. Government has a role to play as well. By making it possible to apply to register to vote online we have transformed the ease and speed with which people can get on the register. Statistics show that the registration website is especially popular with younger people. Ahead of the 2017 General Election the Government supported the Electoral Commission’s campaign to encourage voter registration by sharing their campaign materials through existing government social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as our own networks. We also published reminder register to vote messages on our high traffic GOV.UK pages, such as DVLA and HMRC. In addition, last December, we published a Democratic Engagement Plan which sets out our priorities for raising awareness of democracy and participation in our democratic processes – including registering to vote – amongst a number of different groups, including young people. Linked to this work and the Suffrage Centenary celebrations we have launched a pack for parliamentarians, announced the recruitment and training of youth democracy ambassadors and will make a secondary schools resource for 13-16 year olds. Working with partners, including those in the youth charity sector, we are looking forward to the inaugural National Democracy Week (2-8 July 2018). This is designed to promote democratic participation amongst all under registered groups, including attainers.
Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are responsible for maintaining a complete and accurate electoral register. Many EROs undertake effective democratic engagement activities with young people and other population groups. Government has a role to play as well. By making it possible to apply to register to vote online we have transformed the ease and speed with which people can get on the register. Statistics show that the registration website is especially popular with younger people. Ahead of the 2017 General Election the Government supported the Electoral Commission’s campaign to encourage voter registration by sharing their campaign materials through existing government social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as our own networks. We also published reminder register to vote messages on our high traffic GOV.UK pages, such as DVLA and HMRC. In addition, last December, we published a Democratic Engagement Plan which sets out our priorities for raising awareness of democracy and participation in our democratic processes – including registering to vote – amongst a number of different groups, including young people. Linked to this work and the Suffrage Centenary celebrations we have launched a pack for parliamentarians, announced the recruitment and training of youth democracy ambassadors and will make a secondary schools resource for 13-16 year olds. Working with partners, including those in the youth charity sector, we are looking forward to the inaugural National Democracy Week (2-8 July 2018). This is designed to promote democratic participation amongst all under registered groups, including attainers.