Start the voting habit early

The House of Commons supported a motion put by Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams this week to give the vote to 16 and 17 year olds.  Despite being passed with a large majority this proposal is not likely to become law because it was not a bill but a backbench motion.  Thanks to Conservative opposition to those under 18 voting young people are unlikely to be able to vote from age 16 in the near future.

I thought back through my own voting history and realised that, despite my interest in politics I didn't vote for an MP until I was 26.

There was a General Election the year before I turned 18.  I was living at home and studying for 'A' Levels.  If I had been able to vote in that election I would have done so.  A year later, around the time of taking my 'A' Levels, there were elections to the European Parliament.  I had passed my 18th birthday and voted in those elections.

At the time of the next General Election I was at University.  I had spent six months in a rented property and then returned to live with my parents for six months whilst undertaking a work placement.  In election week I went to stay with a friend in another part of the country.  I was registered to vote at my parent's address but as plans to visit a friend were made late in the day I didn't have time to apply for a postal vote.  I didn't vote.  I suspect that many young people are in a similar situation, moving around and making last minute plans in their late teens and early twenties.

It was then five years until the next General Election so I didn't vote on the national stage until I was 26 years old.  By that time I had stood as a local election candidate and voted in a further European election.

With General Elections now on a five year cycle and usually happening on the first Thursday in May a young person with an 18th birthday on the first Friday of May 2015 would not be likely to vote in a General Election until they were 23 years old.  Miss that one for some reason and they would be 28 years old.

A young person not eligible to vote until early 2016 would miss the 2015 General Election and wait until they were 22 to cast a vote in a national election.  

Surely the time to catch young people and engage them is at school or sixth form college.  Most will be voting in an area they have lived in for a time rather than voting in a town they may only spend a few years in whilst at university.

Why not give young people who are likely to be at home, with some stake in their local society a vote from age 16.  Not all will use their democratic right, not all will feel ready to vote but why not give young people the choice?

Sixteen is the time to get into the democratic habit.