Get the Vote Out!

Get the Vote Out Roadshow: campaign climax

In the week before polling day, members of NUS’ National Executive Committee toured the UK visiting our members to ‘get the vote out’. The roadshow was the climax to a campaign which began at the start of the academic year with a voter registration push, to give as many students as possible the opportunity to vote by adding their name to the electoral register.

Over three days, NUS flyered and handed out wristbands to students at 14 universities, from Cambridge to Cardiff, Kent to Lancaster and Essex to Durham. The institutions were all based in marginal constituencies, identified as having a student population large enough to potentially swing the outcome of the vote.

The importance of voting was relayed to students across the country in many different ways. In Cambridge, students took to a punt on the River Cam bearing the words ‘Don’t get sold down the river, use your vote.’ In Canterbury, a sky writing plane put the message that the student vote would fly there. Hustings of parliamentary candidates took place on many campuses, with some even hosting ballot boxes and putting on transport to the nearest polling stations.

NUS National President Kat Fletcher said:
“We have been delighted with the response to our ‘Get the Vote out’ campaign and that students have had their say. Some of the election results suggest that top-up fees were a bigger issue than anyone expected and it should have been addressed much more openly in the election campaign. All over the country, students have voted and have made their voice heard.

In many marginal seats the student vote made all the difference in the election results. Hopefully, politicians will now finally realise that they have to take students and young people much more seriously, and engage with them on the issues that really matter. In this historic third term, we hope that Labour will finally deliver on their pledge of education, education, education.”

Kat Fletcher (NUS President) and Hannah Essex (NUS Vice President for Education) are joined by friends to get the word out on the Get The Vote Out! roadshow.

NEW: The Guardian / NUS online debate

The NUS represents over 5.2 million students, roughly 13% of the electorate, and collectively and individually we can be very influential on an MP's thinking about a wide range of constituency and national issues. The student vote alone could swing the election result in a number of constituencies across the UK and if we vote for candidates based on the issues that affect us, imagine the influence it could have!

NUS does not believe in apathy. Research shows that people are not apathetic about politics, instead, they are disengaged or disillusioned with political processes. Research by the Hansard Society after the 2001 general election found that many non-voters had consciously chosen not to vote. This was positive abstention, rather than apathy.

Wristbands

Wristbands are available to order via local students’ unions. Please contact your local union officers.

MP voting records

Student views

Frequently Asked Questions

Education Manifesto

Students, MPs and key organisations are signing up to the manifesto each day and will be taking issues forward in the run up to the general election. To pledge your support for the manifesto email your name and university to manifesto@nus.org.uk

NUS National President Kat Fletcher said: “This is an exciting time for the organisation, and for the student movement as a whole. The student vote is clearly a worry to the government and so we want to make sure that our members are equipped and ready to exercise their rights and vote on the issues that matter to them.”

Read the manifesto: www.nusonline.co.uk/educationmanifesto

Student Views

Sanchia Smithson, Msc Politics student at Birkbeck
“I believe students have the power to swing seats. Voting is one of the main ways to have your say in who runs the country.”

Main issues for me: top-up fees and immigration.

Tamsin Clube, 2nd year Dance student at University College Winchester
“I may not vote as a protest, but I know I should given what women went through to give me that opportunity.”

Main issues for me: the UK’s relationship with both the US and EU and the Euro in particular, the NHS, how parties intend to fund their policies.

Holly Hudson, 2nd year MA Art and Media Practice
“I believe we should all use our right to have our opinions heard and not just leave the decision up to a percentage of the population that can bother and might not think the same as me.

“Much of what the politicians say sounds too much like a sales pitch for me to really believe a word. It’s virtually impossible to get straight unspun information about what each party is planning, and how.”

Main issues for me: Equal rights and gay rights in particular, immigration, the environment – something that will affect my children’s future.

Hannah Avis, 3rd year Fashion Promotion and Illustration, Surrey Institute

“Women campaigned for us to have the right to vote, so it’s our duty to make sure we use it. You have no right to complain about the government if you don’t make the effort to vote!”

Main issues for me: Issues relating to the young, and students in particular.

Samantha Ogoo, 2nd Year BTEC National Certificate in Performing Arts, Park Lane College

“I want to vote because I’m not satisfied with the current government, particularly their behaviour over top-up fees, and want to effect change.

Sandra Davies, 2nd Year Combined Studies (social sciences), Barnsley College

“I won’t be voting as there is no political party in tune with my opinions, plus I don’t want to just give a ‘wasted’ vote.”

Main issues for me: Top up fees, housing benefit, support for lone parents, childcare, health.

Ruqayyah Collector, 3rd year Broadcast Journalism, Leeds

“I want to vote to make sure the BNP do not get elected and to use my democratic right to punish Labour for the war in Iraq, terrorism laws, and asylum and immigration laws.”

Main issues for me: Iraq war, ID cards, racism.

Elliot Argent, 2nd year Business and Management at Oxford Brookes
“It’s important for everyone to have a say on how the country is run, especially when there are so many people in other countries who don’t have the opportunity to vote.”

Main issues for me: top-up fees, immigration and tax.

Adam Williams, 2nd year Meteorology and Oceanography, UEA

“It is important to cast your opinion and have your say – if you don’t you’ll have nothing to complain about.”

Main issues for me: Green issues, asylum, crime and moral justice.

Emma Linacre, 3rd year Geography, Manchester

“I’m voting to support smaller parties and to register my opposition to the Iraq war.”

Main issues for me: Top up fees, student support and housing, changes ti the voting system, immigration friendly policies, social justice.

Kevin Flynn, 1st year LLB, Coventry University

“I want to register my disaffection over issues such s taxes and tuition fees.”

Tom Brook, 2nd year Accounting and Finance at Oxford Brookes
“I don’t have a massive interest in politics and politicians and feel fairly disengaged from the process as many young people do. Certain issues which I think will affect me in the future I am likely to take more interest in.”

Main issues for me: the economy, tax policies.

Amy Blakemore, 1st year Medicine, University of Warwick

“I’m voting to feel that I am making my opinion known and hopefully having some impact on the final election outcome and the way in which the country is run.”

Main issues for me: Education and health.