Thursday 18-01-2024 - 14:04

Register to Vote. Your Voice Matters.

The fundamental purpose of a students’ union is to advance and protect the interests of students. We do this by engaging with stakeholders and policymaking bodies that have the power to improve the student experience. Logically, the University has the most control over the student experience. Thus, SU officers spend most of our time engaging with the University’s leadership. However, not all student issues are within the University’s gift to resolve. For example, Durham University does not regulate landlords or decide the quality of public transport. Such issues, though integral to many students’ Durham experience, fall instead under the purview of local and national government.

Therefore, it is in students’ collective interests – and part of our purpose as your SU – to make sure that government policies reflect students’ interests. The SU works closely with Durham County Council, local councillors and local MP Mary Foy, but by far the most powerful tool students possess with which to defend and advance our interests, both nationally and locally, is our votes. Ahead of the 2015 General Election, the National Union of Students (NUS) calculated that students’ votes could determine the winner in almost 200 constituencies. Local elections have a wider franchise than general elections (you just have to be a British, Commonwealth or EU citizen resident in the relevant local authority and aged 18 or older), meaning a significant majority of Durham‘s 21,000 students are eligible to vote in our local elections. The student vote is even more significant in the wider North East region. Newcastle University and Northumbria University have a combined enrolment of around 65,000. The margin between the winning and second-placed candidates in the 2019 North of Tyne mayoral election was under 17,000 votes.

On the 2 May 2024, the first election will be held for the new North East Mayor. The Mayor will champion and represent the residents of seven local authorities covering campuses of four universities – Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Durham – with a combined student population of around 100,000. It is not mine or the SU’s place to tell you how to use your vote. However, this is a sizeable constituency, especially in the region with both the smallest population and lowest turnout in England, and candidates should be eager to make the case for why they deserve students’ support.

Despite the evident potential electoral influence students wield, students are amongst the most likely to be politically disengaged and disenfranchised. Only 47% of 18-24 year-olds voted in the 2019 General Election compared to 74% of 65+ voters, whilst research from 2018 indicated that just 70% of 20-24 year-olds were registered to vote, compared to 97% of 65+ voters. This low registration amongst young people is exacerbated even further amongst students due to their frequent changes of address. Of eligible voters who have lived at their current address for less than a year – a category that most Durham students fall into – just 40% are registered to vote, with a separate survey finding that two-thirds of undergraduates are not registered at their term-time address.

As your SU representative, I find this trend especially alarming. Having seen how students engaged with our student voice consultation sessions last term, I know students are not apathetic or disinterested in the democratic process. Statistically, young people are the most likely demographic to engage in political activity. However, if we do not utilise our electoral power to defend our interests, we are not only not incentivising politicians to prioritise students’ interests, but we risk encouraging them to flirt with anti-student rhetoric and policies as an alternative means of mobilising electoral support, banking on students’ low engagement to limit electoral backlash.

Registering to vote is simple and can be done so online here. Although everybody is limited to voting in one place in general elections to rightly ensure voter equality, in local elections, students are permitted to vote both in their place of study and their home local authority. If your home local authority is also holding elections on the 2 May, you do not have to choose between voting at home or at university. This is most easily done by registering for a postal vote in the local authority, where you will not be on election day. As the 2 May falls within the Easter Term, in most cases this will probably mean registering for a postal vote in your home local authority.

In conclusion, students’ votes are the most effective vehicle for advancing our collective interests and priorities with both local and national government, and the upcoming mayoral election makes it a potential local political Ferrari. However, low participation and engagement have long meant that this Ferrari is stuck in first gear with its hazards on. Only by utilising our votes can we unleash its full potential and ensure that our interests are at the forefront of policymakers’ minds.