Electoral Commission campaign encourages students to vote

The Electoral Commission has begun using Facebook to encourage young people to vote in the forthcoming general elections.

Due to more and more young people losing interest in the political process, there are concerns that the British electorate could be skewed towards older people.

As a result, the Electoral Commission devised a campaign across a range of social networks, such as Facebook, to engage young people politically. The campaign is called ‘use your age wisely’ and aims to persuade young people to seize the opportunity of voting.

The campaign will develop in phases. The first phase will mainly be centred around using PR and online advertising before moving on to TV and mobile in the later phases.

Facebook has a central role to play. It is expected to help encourage support for the campaign as well as positioning itself as a key battleground during the elections.

Michael Abbot, head of campaigns at the electoral commission, said: “Many 18 year olds are not even aware that they have to register before voting”.

He added that, ironically, bigger cities and university towns had a larger decrease in number of registration compared to other places.

The vote of young people, according to an analysis undertaken by the Electoral Commission, is extremely important as it can tip the balanced odds of the outcomes, especially when focusing on topics that matter most.

Yet both the Conservative and Labour party are using traditional battle plans that are clearly not working. They have not mastered the strategy of using digital space to reach a broader range of customers.

Anu Roy, a first year Politics with International Studies student said: “Social media platforms like Facebook are an intermediary between strict social mobilization and casual gathering. It makes elections more accessible and participation seems easier and open to everybody”.

She concluded: “Overall, it is good for involvement and I hope the campaign goes successfully”.