ROUND OF APPLAUSE: Rate of 18 Year Olds Enrolled To Vote Jumps By 20%
The Australian Electoral Commission confirmed that 18 year old participation is up from 51% to 71% since the end of April. Thats a whole 20%. Hoorah!
Four years ago prior to the 2013 Federal Election, the Australian Electoral Commission revealed the shocking truth that more than 400,000 18-24 year olds were not yet enrolled to vote.
However this year’s battle for votes has re-engaged younger voters, and the good news today is that more than 90,000 18 year olds are signed up and ready for the 2016 Federal Election.
Australians enrolled for the election by age. 18 YO participation up from 51% to 71% since end of April #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/eMcmp1JXA5
— AEC (@AusElectoralCom) June 5, 2016
Although 18-24 year olds still remain the least represented age category in the polls, with 28.9% missing – the trend is still a positive one. Unfortunately it’s now too late for the stragglers to get involved as registration was required before the 23rd of May.
Political parties are well on the way in their extended eight week campaign, with a huge focus going towards the under-represented views of young voters.
The Labor Party has especially targeted young people this year, campaigning in the hope to appeal to the interests of voters through a variety of initiatives.
Member for the Australian Labor Party Andrew Giles believes that young voters are not concerned by politics for many reasons. Giles claims that the decisions made by representatives of Parliament should be designed to shape the future of Australia, with young people gaining and losing during the process. Giles says,
“To sustain our democracy, we need to encourage direct participation of young Australians.”
“It’s not that young people’s concerns are insignificant; it’s that we, in the past, haven’t tried hard enough to engage with them on issues which they, not us-perceive as relevant.”
The MP for Scullin says 30 per cent of his electorate is made up of young people which means that their input is important.
Vice President of the La Trobe University Labor club Kate Crossin says that when it comes to policy announcements, students have vested interests into their parliament’s decisions as much as an average Australian would – but aren’t necessarily interested in politics as a whole.
“Many students who aren’t directly studying politics, gender studies or law aren’t interested in the election. They don’t put much effort into researching the political parties and making an informed decision. The ones who do study in those areas and have a larger exposure to Australian politics are the ones who get actively involved or at least maintain an active awareness and rhetoric.”
The use of social media remains a critical way of engaging young people to get involved in political movements. Youtube superstar Jordan Shanks known as “FriendlyJordies” has become a popular advocate in promoting Australian Politics, after beginning his channel of satiric videos in 2013.
Known as the “Political God of Youtube”, Shanks plea to young voters gained over 300,000 views on Facebook, as well as 54,000 views on Youtube.
GetUp Australia are also on board in urging eligible voters to enrol before the closing date.
The organisation released a campaign video titled “have you had… the talk?” encouraging parents to speak with family members in the hopes of them enrolling to vote.
Crossin says that it’ll be hard to gain votes from younger generations who aren’t necessarily aware of the importance of voting.
“The political climate at the moment has the ability to spin a really great campaign targeted at young voters and get them voting. But the last few weeks haven’t done that and if it continues we’ll probably see young votes decrease.”
With five weeks remaining until election day, the voting habits of 18-24 year olds are crucial in changing the outcome in a number of seats.