Why youth do not vote?

• Author: Paul, Emily-Anne
• Position: Viewpoint essay

Since the 1970s scholars estimate that youth turnout is twenty per cent lower than turnout amongst baby boomers born between 1945 and 1950. Kids these days are not forming the habits that their parents did. They are not becoming civically engaged once they become eligible to vote and they are not voting or even moving towards voting as they grow older. This article looks at a project by the British Columbia Legislative Interns to address the problem of voter turnout among youth.

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Youth are not voting. This is not meant as an unfair statement or as an absolute but it is true compared to youth historically throughout Western democracies. Not only are youth not voting, scholars have found that in many instances youth are not volunteering or participating in extracurricular activities. Yet youth are graduating from high school and going on to post secondary education, having families and participating in society. They just do not seem to be voting or engaging politically.

In reflecting on existing research, it is evident that very few people from any age group are voting. Over the last twenty years, voter turnout in Canada has been steadily declining. At the federal level turn out in the 1984 election was at 75 percent, whereas it was 61 percent in the 2000 election and 59 percent in 2008. In our most recent British Columbia provincial election, voter turnout was at 53 percent. Keep in mind these are percentages of registered voters, so in actuality the number of people not voting or engaging is higher.

It is not that youth are unaffected by what politicians do. They pay rent, get jobs and pay tuition. Why is it that they are not making the connection between their needs and their responsibility to vote?

Scholars have identified reasons why youth do not become engaged including their stage in life, mobility, single-hood, lower political knowledge, reaching political adulthood in an atmosphere of political uncompetitiveness, declining levels of civic duty, a preference for non-electoral political participation, and value change associated with a 'decline of deference.' As highlighted by Richard Neimi, "political ideas--like the consumption of cigarettes and hard liquor--do not suddenly begin with one's eighteenth birthday." (1)

In addition, youth seem to lack the motivation, opportunity and ability to get engaged. As Elizabeth Smith outlines, American youth are not developing the "habits of acting together" (2) that de Tocqueville...