Why is Warwick not fussed about voting?

Laziness? Or a political stance in itself?


Almost one million people have failed to register to vote, and you might be part of the lost generation on the electoral register.

Rather surprisingly for what on the whole is a rather computer literate generation, this is being put down to the new online process which must be completed in order to register.

What lies behind this so-called disenfranchised generation, and why haven’t people registered? A small survey of Warwick students may shed some light on the answer.

Over 75 per cent of the students we asked had not registered to vote.

Some had not bothered due to political apathy. But those who had wanted to be involved in the democratic process.

Some even feared being fined £80 and being reminded to do so by a friend.

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Demonstrating that concerns of student political apathy are not totally unfounded, reasons for not registering included simply not getting round to it, forgetting what their national insurance number was and not having opened the letter from the council regarding this issue yet.

Only two seemed unsure in going about the process of registering, with one being kindly reminded by a friend that “you can do it online, you sausage”.

However, not all students seemed totally disengaged with the process.

John, a second year, said: “One of the things I looked forward to the most when I turned 18 was to actively participate in democracy.

“I think voter apathy among young people is a worrying trend and by learning more about politics and how it’s relevant to you it may help change this trend and increase participation.”


Another added: “every vote counts”.

Seems we are a mixture of the politically engaged and the politically unconscious.