There has been an attempt to disenfranchise young people

How quickly things move on. I had anticipated penning a final rallying call here, to encourage those readers of Hot Press who are not registered to vote, to get their names onto the Supplement to the Register of Electors in time for the general election. Well, the over-18s anyway!

But, the way the system works, late applications can only be accepted while 15 working days remain until the date of a general election. That, in effect, means three weeks. Add in a bank holiday and by the time you are reading this, that option will have been closed off for an election that has been called for Thursday 24 May.
No matter – what’s important now is for everybody who is registered to vote to get out there and to use their democratic franchise. Where younger voters are concerned, of course, the decision to hold the election on a Thursday is not helpful.
Why? Hot Press numbers a lot of students among its readers. Understandably, it is not easy, especially with exams looming, for many of them to get back to their parental home base – which is frequently where their vote is located.
Young voters are potentially volatile. If they came out in numbers they might, as the fella said, upset the apple ‘tart’. Apparently the Government don’t want to take any risks in that regard. And so they have made a decision – what we can only assume is a conscious one, because they are not so stupid that this hasn’t occurred to them – to make things that bit more awkward: hence the decision to have Thursday as polling day.
Politicians publicly bemoan the fact that young people lack a sense of involvement. But the truth, it seems, is that they don’t really want them to be involved.
Should you take this lying down? It’s this simple: not to make the effort to get to the polling booth, and thereby to lose out on having a say in the election result, plays into the hands of those who would prefer young people’s voices not to be heard.
Those who fail to vote are too easily written out of the script afterwards by lazy politicians. In other words, this is the best opportunity you will get to ensure that your priorities are taken on board by any future government, whatever its political make-up. There has been what amounts to an attempt to disenfranchise you. Don’t let them get away with it!
Free with this issue of Hot Press, we have published a special 16-page Rock The Vote supplement. If you want to know why it makes sense put in the effort necessary to vote, it’s as good a place as any to start. With some assistance from Hot Press, Rock The Vote has brought together a hugely impressive list of celebrities and stars, who have joined forces to get the essential message across: your vote is your voice. Use it!
Now, on with the show...