CEFA is delighted that thousands more first-time voters have enrolled at the last minute. We wrote on 27 May that only 50% of 18 year old had enrolled for the upcoming Federal election. Thanks to an Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) media and advertising campaign, the number is now 71%. It shows how effective campaigns can be.
Due to the Senate voting changes, the AEC ran a Senate education campaign. This national campaign featured a 30-second television commercial, as well as advertising across radio, print media and online platforms.
Everywhere we looked online in the last few days before the electoral roll closed, the AEC ads were displayed. While the aim of this campaign wasn’t to improve electoral enrolments, it was a powerful prompt to remind young people to enrol to vote, or for their parents and grandparents who saw the ads to remind them.
And Gold Logie award winner Waleed Aly made an impassioned plea for young people to enrol to vote on the project just before the rolls closed on 23 May.
That said, 71% of 18 year olds being enrolled to vote at this election is still not good enough. It means that 29% of 18 year old will be disenfranchised on 2 July.
CEFA has argued for a long time that there should be an Australian Government sponsored first-time voter program. We have developed a quiz based program that we piloted in Queensland, where students work through levels of information. The finalists are selected from the first rounds of the competition and compete in the grand final for attractive prize money. As part of this program, these 16-18 year olds are encouraged to enrol to vote for the next election.
Those born outside Australia who become Australia citizens have to go through a huge learning and testing process about our Constitution and democracy. Aren’t we letting down our young Australians if we don’t provide them with similar education?
Surely we all realise informed voting is vital to the stability of our democracy. Young people should learn about it as a coming of age event similar to getting a driver’s license.
It is now time to run a first-time voter program for all students in Years 11 and 12. Whoever wins the 2 July election, CEFA will again be pushing this forward as a national program in all schools.
Governments prioritise their funding to programs that are popular with Australians. If more people like you financially support CEFA, we have a better chance of securing Government funding for our important work.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation before 30 June? Even a small donation helps to educate young people about our democracy and you would be personally supporting our first-time voter program.
