I just read this news article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/higher-youth-turnout-could-change-tone-outcome-of-elections-1.2582855
In summary, it talks about some of the reasons why voter turnout is so low among young people and Kevin Page’s “I Vote” event intent on engaging youth.
I think this new article simultaneously addresses the problem of youth and voting and is an example of why the problem persists.
“Just over 60 per cent of eligible voters actually cast ballots in 2011. Among those under 30, fewer than 40 per cent bothered to vote.”
This line in the article is particularly glaring. It says that 60% of the people voted, it doesn’t mention that 40% of the general population didn’t vote. Meanwhile in the second sentence, the statistic it’s trying to present is that 40% of young people voted. But instead of saying, “Among those under 30, less than 40% voted”, it says less than 40% bothered.
Youth that don’t vote are not “youth who aren’t bothered” – they are youth who don’t vote. Just like 40% of Canadians.
I think it’s frustrating that youth are constantly being told that they don’t care. Because tells the youth that do care that they are alone, they are different, and that it’s pointless to even try.
It’s easy for a bunch of old people to dismiss an entire generation and say they don’t care, but they don’t give us anything to care about. The article does good point about catch-22 faced by politicians: the message of politicians aren’t being directed at young people, so young people don’t want to vote. Young people don’t vote, so politicians don’t direct their message at young people.
I point to Egypt’s election following the revolution. The young people responsible for the revolution were given two candidates that they could not get behind. So they voted for batman instead.
So maybe this is our bat signal to our politicians.
Give us someone we can stand behind. Give us a reason to be bothered.