Leverhulme Trust-funded ‘Lowering the Voting Age across the UK’ project research team – Written evidence (ERA0009)
Dr Thomas Loughran, Dr Andy Mycock (both University of Huddersfield) and Professor Jonathan Tonge (University of Liverpool)
This evidence is presented by the Leverhulme Trust-funded ‘Lowering the Voting Age across the UK’ project research team. The project is currently undertaking the first study of historical and contemporary debates concerning voting age reform across the whole of the UK and internationally. This holistic research project includes analyses of the implementation and effects of lowering the voting age to 18 in 1969; debates about ‘Votes at 16’; the impacts of voting age reform on youth political socialisation and participation; examination of international evidence; and voting rights and transitions to adulthood. Research methodologies include a UK-wide survey of under- and over-18s; interviews with politicians, policy-makers, civil society leaders, and young people; focus groups with diverse groups of 14-24 year-olds; and analysis of archival and contemporary data.
This submission is part of a wider engagement strategy to inform and enrich the growing political debate surrounding the significance of ‘Votes at 16’ and its policy implications among which issues related to the electoral registration of young people are a crucial consideration. While the issue of ‘Votes-at-16’ is clearly a political question, the issue of registration is an administrative one and there is a strong case for creating a standardised age at which young people can register across the UK.
Individual Electoral Registration: Asymmetry in Young People’s Electoral Rights and Responsibilities
The processes of electoral registration regulation and procedures disproportionately impact young voters across the United Kingdom who are learning to engage with democracy and participate in elections for the first time. There has been a great deal of political science research demonstrating that voting or non-voting is a habit strongly shaped by initial experiences of young people which can influence their long-term commitment to democratic participation and trust in the workings of the electoral system overall.
The effect of the bespoke and piecemeal introduction of ‘Votes at 16’ across the UK has created a fragmented asymmetric set of civic rights and responsibilities across the nations and regions of the United Kingdom. A situation has arisen whereby 16 and 17 year-olds have different voting rights depending on where they happen to live. The introduction of ‘Votes-at-16’ legislation by the Scottish Government means 16 and 17 year-olds currently have the right to vote in Scottish local and national elections. The Welsh Assembly has passed legislation and plans to lower the voting age to 16 for local and national elections in 202116 and 17 year olds in Scotland (and shortly in Wales) do not have the right to vote in UK-wide elections, referenda and European elections (if they are held again) creating a significant dissonance in young people’s electoral rights.. However, 16 and 17 year-olds in England and Northern Ireland are not enfranchised for any election in the United Kingdom.
Variation in the voting age across different jurisdictions and levels of government inevitably results in the age-thresholds and processes of registering young people for the first time varying across the UK. As a consequence of lowering the voting age young people in Scotland can now register to vote at 14. The Welsh Assembly also plans to introduce registration at 14 to accompany the lowering of the voting age to 16 in Wales. In England and Northern Ireland young people still have to wait until they are 16 before they can register to vote. As yet, there has been no consideration of the dissonance in electoral registration rights of young people across the UK.
1) Our research interviews with electoral administrators have highlighted a number of practical challenges this generates. In those parts of the United Kingdom that have instigated ‘Votes-at-16’ (or are shortly to do so) young people will go onto the electoral roll at a younger age and electoral administrators have to address the additional confidentiality and child protection implications involved in managing the data of a significant number of Under 18s under GDPR legislation.
2) Our interviews with local authority Electoral Registration Officers in Scotland and Wales have highlighted concerns over the cost and logistical challenges of maintaining multiple electoral rolls-sometimes for elections that may be occurring on the same day but with different franchises. Administrators are confident that the processes are robust as regards electoral integrity but point to the increased costs of running multiple franchises and concerns regarding the challenges of educating young people about this asymmetry in their voting rights.
3) Focus groups we have run in England and Northern Ireland have highlighted that many young people are frustrated that they have to wait longer to register to vote than their peers in Scotland and Wales. Likewise, our focus groups with young people in Scotland and Wales highlight the confusion and frustration many have in being eligible to vote in some elections and not others. Unaddressed, the current situation may well have diverse but detrimental effects on the attitudes and engagement of young people when they are first enfranchised to vote.
Recommendation 1 – We recommend that the Select Committee consider the implications of growing asymmetries in electoral rights and responsibilities across the UK and the dissonance this creates for young people.
Individual Electoral Registration: Citizenship Education
Research findings from our project have shown the important role that young people assign schools and colleges in providing them with the requisite knowledge and confidence they require in order to vote. In our representative survey of one thousand 16 and 17 year olds across the United Kingdom, when asked who should have primary responsibility for ensuring they were prepared to vote, 40.5% choose schools. This was comfortably the most popular answer.
However, in the 35 focus groups we have run so far across the UK young people have been almost universally critical of the level of citizenship education they receive in schools. The young people in our focus groups consistently report not having received any education preparing them to take part in the electoral process. Of particular concern for the Select Committee, most participants have voiced doubts and confusion around the specific processes of registration, with many noting this as something that may well discourage them from voting. Even young people who appear confident and knowledgeable about politics are often unsure about the practical processes of electoral registration and of voting.
At present, citizenship education provision in schools and colleges across the United Kingdom does not guarantee that all young people learn about electoral registration or voting. Although local authority Electoral Registrations Officers, citizenship education teachers, and youth democratic engagement organisations seek to engage with and instruct large numbers of young people, their reach is not anywhere near universal. Many young people do not learn about the basics of electoral registration or voting before reaching the age of enfranchisement – whether it be 16 or 18. We believe this situation helps explain the comparatively low turnout of young people in all elections when compared to their older counterparts.
Recommendation 2 – It is vital that all young people have the necessary knowledge and self-confidence to take part in the electoral process. Citizenship education in schools clearly represents the best opportunity to ensure this happens. The Select Committee should consider the merits of making it mandatory that young people are taught how to register to vote within citizenship education in schools and colleges across the UK.
Individual Electoral Registration: Registering Young People in Schools
Many academics have argued that casting a first vote should represent the natural end-point to a statutory programme of citizenship education. However, while this may be desirable, it has a number of problematic aspects. Educators and young people themselves have expressed concerns about the extent to which teachers should be actively encouraging first time voters to the polls, with the potential for perceived undue influence cited. Beyond this, there is the more prosaic issue that, due to the electoral cycle, there is no guarantee there will be an election at the point an individual becomes old enough to vote.
Making electoral registration the natural end point of citizenship education is a more realistic proposal that still highlights the moment an individual becomes recognised as a full citizen and has the added benefited of ensuring that more young people are encouraged to register at a point when they are still in a stable institutional environment.
Evidence from our focus groups and interviews with Electoral Registration Officers and citizenship teachers show that students, educators and electoral administrators would be supportive of the idea of registering young people in schools. This represents an excellent opportunity for encouraging young people to register, demystifying the process, and to demonstrate that citizenship education has a direct long-term value to their lives.
In the wake of voting age reform in Scotland, local authority Electoral Registration Officers are able to run initiatives encouraging young voters to register in schools. Plans to accompany voting age reform in Wales with such initiatives have been outlined by the Welsh Assembly. Electoral Registration Officers in Northern Ireland and England are not currently afforded these opportunities.
Recommendation 3 – The Select Committee should consider giving all young people the opportunity to register to vote in schools with the assistance of local authority Electoral Registration Officers. This opportunity should come as part citizenship education provision, which is a statutory part of each national curricula across the United Kingdom.