Students reminded to register to vote as 1 Million new voters register ahead of June General Election

We are less than a month away from another general election on June 8th thanks to Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement of a snap election earlier this month, and it seems like one the British public are more than willing to participate in.

Since the announcement, there have been almost 1.2 million Brits between the ages of 18 to 35 who have registered to vote for this year’s election, with around half of them being 24 or younger, according to government figures.

On the 18th April, the day May announced the snap election, more than 100,000 people aged 18 to 35 registered to vote, figures have steadily risen since then, with more than 200,000 18 to 25 year-olds signing up this week alone, with the deadline for registration just days away on Monday, 22nd of May.

Despite the promising numbers, whether the voter turnout will be the same is a whole different story, the 2015 General Election saw just 43% of 18-24 year olds make their way to the polls, compared to the 78% of people aged 65 or over, an increase in young voters will be most beneficial to The Labour party, based off the past General Elections’ results of 43% of young voters leaning towards Labour, and just 23% of them Conservatives. Whilst, older voters, voted similarly in reverse, with The Conservative Party winning the vote of the 65 and overs.

Manchester Council has urged anybody who hasn’t registered to vote yet, to do so as soon as possible, with the deadline ever so close. Joanne Rooney OBE, returning officer for Manchester, said: “Manchester is a city with a proud democratic history.

“It would be a real shame if anyone who wants to cast their vote in the General Election on June 8 was unable to do so because they were not registered.”

Northern Quota asked some of these new and young voters in Manchester what their thoughts are about this year’s election and who they’re most likely to vote for.

Student and first-time voter, Matty Brindle, had this to say when asked what inspired him to register and eventually vote, he said, “We are going under and someone needs to sort it out, I feel the wrong party is in power and have shown it for years. I feel maybe, if I did vote, I may be heard, especially from the party I choose.”

Maths Student, Mathew Haffner, has found himself leaning towards the Liberal Democrats or Labour and said, “Considering where I live, it’s either Labour or Lib Dems. I align with the Lib Dems a lot on social issues like legalising weed and personal freedoms, Labour are more socialists, the Tories have cut the status of proportion of GDP and I think we should reverse that.”

Make sure you register to vote in this year’s election on the official registration website. All you need are your personal information and NI number, it only take a few minutes!,