Issues Relating to Voting

Issues Relating to Voter Turnout & Voter Apathy

One of the factors that influenced the addition of Citizenship to the National Curriculum was the rising issue of voter turnout. In many cases, particularly with smaller elections, turnout rates are below or slightly above 50% of voters who voted against those registered to. However, it should be noted that this could be inaccurate as some do not even register to vote.

Possible reasons for the lack of turnout include political apathy; id est, people being disinterested in politics. However, the counter-argument for this is that the membership rates of pressure groups are on the increase, leading some to question whether the true issue is the way we do politics in the UK, or the politicians themselves.

The lowest turnout for a recent election; that is to say, since 2009…