Greens secure support for automatic voter registration projects in schools, colleges and universities
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer has secured Scottish Government support for his amendment to the Election Bill, which encourages the funding of projects to automatically register high school, college and university students to vote.
Following the success of lowering the voting age to 16 for Scottish Parliament and local elections, a change that the Scottish Greens long supported and campaigned for, Mr Greer believes that automatic registration of students would boost engagement with the democratic process and empower young people to help shape Scotland’s future.
The high water mark for voter participation in Scotland was the 2014 independence referendum, with both registration and turnout having dropped off since.
Evidence from across the world has shown that automatic registration of young people has long-term positive effects and Mr Greer has suggested that registering high school students at the point they receive their SQA candidate number would also provide more value for money than encouraging them to register in their own time.
Mr Greer said:
“It's fantastic that my proposal on automatic voter registration was passed unanimously by MSPs. This is exactly the kind of activity we need to increase young people’s engagement with elections.
“Our democracy is stronger when more people get involved. You can’t exercise your right to vote without being registered in the first place, thus my bringing this proposal to Parliament.
“Automatic voter registration, for example at the point a young person receives their SQA candidate number, is an obvious way to increase young people’s engagement with elections.
“Some schools trialled these kinds of initiatives ahead of the independence referendum in 2014, with huge success. And there is no shortage of international evidence showing how automatic registration boosts participation.
“Schools, colleges and universities are obvious locations for these kinds of efforts to take place. Following on from lowering the voting age to 16 and extending the right to vote to everyone who lives here, this will be another example of Scotland leading the UK in strengthening our democracy.”