National Voter Registration Day: It’s time to get involved
By Nick Bond
With only three months until the 2015 general election, today is a big day for potential voters across the UK, with a coordinated national push aiming to get a quarter of a million people registered to vote. It’s National Voter Registration Day.
As the campaign heats up, Attitude editor Matthew Todd has shared his own journey to political engagement as a young gay man in the 1990s, realising that his local MP actively voted against LGBT issues – and that he had the power to help vote him out.
Respected gay rights activist Peter Tatchell offered some words of inspiration for all those wavering about whether or not to register: “Let’s elect the gayest government in history!”
YouTuber Jazza John offered a warning to any fellow Gen Yers thinking they could blissfully ignore the upcoming elections: “If you don’t do politics, politics will do you.”
This week, Young Labour’s LGBT Officer Jack Falkingham argued that it “doesn’t take a Harvey Milk to realise we must still stand up and be counted.”
“Did you have great LGBT sex and relationship education at school? Or, do you always feel comfortable walking down the street, never mind holding hands with a partner? No, me neither. The fact is we may have won lots of legal victories, but we are still not equal. I’ll be voting in May to make sure those changes can be won,” he wrote.
So, what can you do? Today is National Voter Registration Day, so it’s an ideal day to make sure you’re registered to vote, which you’ll be able to do so today in schools, colleges, supermarkets, youth clubs and students’ unions across the country.
However, if you miss out on registering today, it’s not too late – head to Bite the Ballot at any time to make sure your voice is heard.