South West Surrey Youth Vote #SWSYV15

Alongside the main hustings event on Friday 10 April, Farnham Maltings will launch SWS Youth Vote (#SWSYV15) a new project to enthuse local young people with the democratic process and give them a chance to have their say.

The Scottish Referendum has opened up a number of questions, not just about the future of the UK’s political model but also about who gets to decide it. Following the huge turnout, (especially within young voters, allowed to vote for the first time) SWS Youth Vote is a project to investigate what impact this could have on the elections of the future.

The project starts with the Youth Hustings event on the 10th April (before the main hustings event) which will give a unique opportunity for local 16-17yr olds to question political party members about the issues affecting them. Set as a series of roundtable discussions, and scheduled a bit like speed dating, in small groups attendees will get the chance to spend 10mins with each of the party representatives.

At the end of the event, attendees will be given the opportunity to vote for who, if they were eligible, they would vote for in the election. The second part of the project will be an online vote conducted by Farnham Maltings with 16-17 year olds across South West Surrey on the morning of Election Day on the 9th May to get a wider consensus of the opinions and voting patterns of young people within the constituency. For more information about #SWSYV15 please contact Vikki Jones.