Alrighty, we’re going to level with ya.
The Australian Electoral Commission estimates that about a quarter of young voters haven’t enrolled to vote. Which is around 500,000 people. That is a shitload of votes.
We know that we’re not apathetic – look at the 10k turnout for the anti-lockout law rally for ‘Keep Sydney Open’! Or the young people who marched in protest of detaining refugees on Manus Island and Nauru. Plenty of young people marched in Invasion Day rallies on Jan 26 to fight for the rights and acknowledgement of Aboriginal people.
We were outraged when old mate Malcolm Turnbull said that we simply had to borrow money from our parents to buy a house. We’re dumbfounded by the fact it’s 2016 and two people of the same sex aren’t allowed to get married. And we find it impossible to believe ears when pollies ardently refuse to acknowledge that climate change exists.
Screw any person who truly believes the heavily-peddled trope that millennials are apathetic because we listen to rap music and spend all our time on the internet. Fuck that, it’s not true – we care a lot. We just can’t see voting as a viable option for change, because most of the current politicians in power are damn near impossible for us to relate to.
But, this has gotta change. Because our collective voices have the power to completely change the political landscape. Legit!
According to non-for-profit group Y Vote, the total number of wasted votes of electors or would-be electors (aged 18 to 24) outnumbers the winning margin. Which means that if those 500,000 young’uns enrolled and voted, they could easily change our country and our future.
According to the company’s estimates, the number of wasted votes outnumbered the margins several times over in major Liberal marginals, and some key Labor-held marginals too.
Skye Riggs, who founded Y Vote, said young Aussies felt like their voices weren’t valued because “they don’t see politicians investing a lot of time in them”.
We’re under-utilising our votes and underestimating ourselves, yo! If we all enrolled and voted to put the buggers that don’t care in the giant metaphorical bin, Australia could be totally different. DEMOCRACY!
To check if you’re enrolled, head here: oevf.aec.gov.au/
And TO ENROL, click the giant link below.
It literally takes 5 minutes or less, it’s so super easy:
(If you’ve moved since you last voted, you’ve gotta update your details! You can do that on the above link, too.)
Now, this is important – you have to enrol BEFORE 8PM TODAY (23rd May). Before 8pm, yo.
You gotta!
