On 3 May 2012, people across the country flocked to the polling stations to register their votes in the local elections. As well as electing councillors, ten cities across the country, such as Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds, also held referendums on whether to have voter-elected mayors.
However, students are notorious for their lack of interest in local elections, an attitude reflected in the low voter turnout in my university city of Sheffield with only 32.77%. Some don’t realise they’re eligible to vote in local elections at their term-time addresses, while others simply are not interested.
There are 60,00 students in Sheffield, with the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University combined, yet it was felt by many students that little had been done to attract their votes.
It could be argued that we don’t live here all year round and therefore it’s preferable to restrict the canvassing to permanent residents of the city. However, we live, study and work here for most of the year and therefore local issues are important to students as well as permanent residents.
City councils are responsible for a number of services that affect students such as emptying bins, keeping the streets safe and clean, and maintaining public parks and spaces. If attention was given to student voters then it may help to ignite interest in politics and provide a greater student voice in the local community.
However, the efforts of students who do get involved are notable. In Sheffield, the student media provided running commentary on the election results and was a valuable source of information for student voters. Furthermore, a number of students whole-heartedly embraced the opportunity to get involved with the local elections by standing for positions themselves.
This was a common occurrence in student cities across the country. 20-year-old history undergraduate, George Lindars-Hammond was elected as Sheffield’s youngest councillor – one of the many victories for Labour in Sheffield and a pattern repeated across the country for the party.
Having students like George in council positions will help to bring better representation of student views and hopefully ignite student interest in future elections.
Local elections may seem somewhat dull and unglamorous but the city council has control of issues that affect our day-to-day lives as students, and participation in the local elections allows your voice to be heard.