Sawsan Bastawy on moves to engage young people with democracy.
On National Voter Registration Day 2015, thousands of people will join Bite the Ballot around the UK in a campaign to ensure that people aged 16-24 are politically informed, engaged, and registered to vote.
NVRD will take place on February 5th 2015, marking the second annual NVRD. During a week of national action from 2nd-8th February, thousands of people across the UK will join Bite The Ballot to dispel the myth that they are apathetic and uninterested in our democratic system.
The next General Election is on May 7th 2015 and many people will not be able to cast their vote because they are not registered. Bite the Ballot aims to register 250,000 people to vote during NVRD, and ensure a strong turnout of people age 18-24 at the 2015 General Election.
As part of the national campaign for voter registration, BTB will orchestrate a youth takeover of Birmingham between the 2nd and the 6th February. In the coming weeks, you will receive press releases with confirmed information about each of the following events.
On Monday 2nd February, we will be the campaign will be launch our campaign film in the morning and in the afternoon we will host a historic event in which all MPs, MEPs, and councillors in the city sign a contract with the young people of Birmingham, pledging to work closely with them to ensure better representation of the youth voice in government.
On Tuesday schools, colleges, youth/faith/community groups all across Birmingham will take part in a referendum on a single issue. In this referendum people aged 16 and over will be allowed to vote. The results of the vote will be released publicly in the evening.
On Wednesday volunteers will be delivering 100 sessions of our interactive democracy workshop, The Basics, in their schools, colleges, universities, community/faith/youth groups all around the city.
On the evening of Thursday 5th February (National Voter Registration Day) all five universities in Birmingham will be sending delegates to our event, Leaders Live Local, building on the phenomenal success of our current project in collaboration with ITV and YouTube, Leaders Live.
Friday will feature an Internet Invasion, a virtual takeover of virtual spaces by young people; as well as a thunderclap aimed at policy-makers.
This week of national action will culminate in a Youth Takeover of a public space on Saturday 7th February. The event will take place from 3pm to 8pm, and will feature musical, dance, theatre, spoken word, and other performances from 16-24 year olds from Birmingham. In addition to several performance spaces, including a large main stage, an area will be transformed into a Speakers Square, hosted by This Is F5, where people 16-24 will have two minutes to publicly express their views on democracy, local and national issues, and politics. At 6pm, musical guests- to be announced- will take to the main stage for a live performance.
Elections Officers from Birmingham City Council, a partner on NVRD, will be registering the public to vote throughout the day. Additionally, MP’, PPCs, councillors, and the Mayor and Lady Mayoress will receive invitations to attend NVRD and meet Birmingham’s young generation.
Throughout the week, registration drives will be taking place in public spaces all across Birmingham; ten have been confirmed to date. In addition, we aim to ensure that 1,000 public computers in Birmingham have www.bitetheballot.co.uk set as the homepage, making registering to vote easier and more accessible. Additionally, cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants around the city will be promoting voter registration to their customers.
Bite the Ballot will make history on February 5th 2015.