Why voting is the most important form of procrastination you can do

The 8th June. What a convenient time to hold a general election. A day most students will find themselves sat at a desk stressing… or procrastinating, or both. But, it is vital that students make all the extra effort to vote in this General Election.

Though Theresa May will benefit from a weak turnout of the student vote, I do not believe the date of the election is more than coincidence. However, with the threat of rising tuition fees, it is convenient that the demographic she is angering will most definitely have a weaker turn-out due to their other commitments, like exams.

If you are procrastinating, then why not take the time to do it productively and register to vote before it’s the 21st of May, you have an exam the next day and you are on the phone to your mum and rifling through your things trying to find your National Insurance number. If you have an exam the day of the General Election, then you can even get a postal vote.

What would Emmeline do?

Here’s a breakdown of why it is important to vote on the 8th of June:

There are  1.84 million university students eligible to vote according to data from Universities U.K. This data does not include sixth form students or local college students eligible to vote.

Last summer, the difference in the Brexit vote was 1,269,501. This is smaller than the amount of university students who are eligible to vote. Therefore, it is clear that the power can really be in our hands this time, despite us constantly being told that our votes hardly count.

As it turns out over a 3rd of students are planning to vote Labour. So, as a demographic we can genuinely have a big impact on the election. Students have previously been seen as a demographic which can swing the vote.

Generally it can seem that our society is trying to hold back the youth, with rising tuition fees and no hope of getting on to the property ladder. But it seems rather silly to me because our demographic is only getting larger every year, and a clear way to make a change is by voting. The establishment can’t ignore us for much longer.

Speaking to The Guardian, the Head of Politics from a school in Croydon said:

“Not only are 16- and 17-year-olds denied a vote in our electoral system, but the government is preventing young people from getting involved in the election by calling it in the middle of the exam season. And what will A-level politics students be doing on 8 June? Government and politics AS unit 2.” The Tories are banking on students not turning out; so let’s not let them.