Learnings From 16 And 17 Year Olds Voting In Elections In Scotland & Wales

Learnings From 16- And 17-Year-Olds Voting In Elections In Scotland & Wales Date: November 9, 2022 Presented by: Christine Huebner, Sheffield Methods Institute When Allowed To Do So, Many 16- And 17- Year-Olds Make Use Of Their Right To Vote Description: Self-reported voter turnout in Wales in 2021 Senedd elections (% of age group, excl. Don't knows, with 95%-CI) Young People Have Complex Voting Journeys With Some Distinct Stages Unique barriers to engagement with elections at multiple points of young people's journeys: 1. Awareness of an election and their right to vote in it 2. Voter registration: electoral roll vs. child protection, requirements, timing and deadlines for registration 3. Electoral campaign engagement, political parties and the media not engaging with young voters 4. Turning out to vote, timing of elections and locations of polling places, e.g., elections clashing with school assessments 5. Experiencing of political efficacy and establishing long-term voting habits Not All Young People Are Equally Likely To Vote Inequalities Replicate, Particularly Within Families Focus group participants who voted and did not vote on family discussions about politics: Young People Who Voted Did Talk About Young People Who Did Not Vote Did Not Politics With Family Members Talk About Politics With Family Members "I think, definitely, if I didn't know so much "It [politics] is never been anything that's about politics or if my family personally been big in our family either." wasn't just generally so much into politics, I would have really struggled with finding - Toto18, 16, from Wales information about parties." - Fflur, 17, from Wales Not All Young People Are Equally Likely To Vote, But Political Inequalities Can Be Mitigated Explanation: Self-reported voter turnout in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election by socio-occupational class of the parents at age 16 of the respondent, self-reported (in %, with 95%-confidence interval): 16- to 17-year-olds vs. 18-year-olds and older Voting Rights For Young People As One Of Several Opportunities In Transitions Into Adulthood CH Tension over formal allocation of voting rights and experiences of political and civic efficacy.  Scotland: Experience of empowerment and personal agency from the formal allocation of voting rights  Scotland, Wales, also Germany: some frustration about partial enfranchisement leads to experience of partial citizenship, citizenship- in-waiting I mean, I feel like a citizen, but I feel like a When people were like, 'how can you be partial citizen in a way that I don't have theinvolved in politics, you don't pay tax', and same rights as everybody else. I'm like, 'I actually do pay tax cause I work full time'. That's definitely something I think about and it's nice to come back with that. - Lauren, Scotland, at age 15 - Lauren, Scotland, at age 18 Lowering The Voting Age - What We Need Be Thinking About Instead 1. What makes for a successful introduction of voting rights for children and young people? How can policy implementation concretely support young people who want to vote? 2. What is the potential role of enfranchisement of young people in the replication of political inequalities? What can be done to mitigate political inequalities? 3. How do our societies view young people's citizenship? What is the role of a lower voting age in a more holistic view of young people's transitions into adulthood and youth voice / young people's political representation?