May 17th, 2017
Rescue our Democracy
By Rachel Whalley
They say you need to take risks in life to achieve anything. Well, with 3 weeks until the election that’s exactly what 38 Degrees members are about to do.
Right now, we’re gearing up to try something truly groundbreaking. We’re going to try and rescue our democracy this General Election by launching the biggest voter turnout campaign the UK has ever seen.
It’s a bold move. And yes, it’s risky. It’s going to cost £100,000 to pull off. But with the sheer scale of what’s at stake at this election, it’s never been more necessary to be bold. There are millions of us reading this email today – but this will only work if enough of us step up and donate a few pounds.
This is an experiment, but the change it could make is huge. Imagine an MP walking into Parliament on their first day knowing that they had to represent young students and retired people equally; families who just bought their first house and those who need help while they’re recovering from illness. That can only happen if more people use their vote.
Our plan to make that happen might sound simple, but it’s going to be a mammoth task to pull it off. We’ll need local HQs buzzing with activity, buses to transport volunteers to knock on doors of people who have never voted before. And of course, state of the art technology to get through to potential voters online and on the phones.
Most of us reading this will probably already be planning to use their vote. But if everyone reading this email put in a fiver, we’d raise the money we need in less than a day. Then, we can throw everything we have at this plan and help other people find their voice.
We urgently need to raise £100,000 in the next 20 days to pull off the UK’s biggest ever voter turnout campaign. Please donate now to help launch our groundbreaking voter turnout campaign:
Here’s a bit more information:
Voter turnout is the phrase used for how many people show up to vote each election. For a bit of context, according to the Electoral Commission and Parliament’s records, the lowest turnout in a general election was recorded in 1918 at 57.2%, due to the end of the First World War. Between 1922 and 1997 turnout remained above 71%. At the 2001 general election the turnout was 59.4%; in 2005 it was 61.4%; in 2010 it was 65.1%; and in 2015 it was 66.1%.
For more detail, the House of Commons library has lots of information and graphs on turnout:
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN02633
On top of that, there are some groups who are even less likely to go and vote. For example, some recent polling suggests that young people are less likely to vote than ever before:
BBC: Election 2017: Will the decline in younger voter turnout continue?
