#Jsy2018: Students suggest ‘youth booth’ to increase teen voting interest

Friday 18 May 2018

A dedicated ‘youth voting booth’ would do just that – get the youth in the booth, according to two new voters.

JCG students Brooke and Head Girl Rebecca made the comments following their first ever venture into voting this week.

They suggested a dedicated voting zone for young people at St. James’ Centre – or elsewhere in the town area, near to secondary schools – would have helped get more young people voting. Failing that, “I do think it would be good to have youth workers there [at the usual voting points], even if just to say, ‘Come over here, I’ll take you to the right place’,” Brooke mused.

The pair – both part of a group of teens Express has been following to learn about their political journey – also suggested that making voting a weekend activity, rather than on a school day, would help get more students involved in the democratic process. 

Overall, they said they enjoyed getting engaged in politics, and especially enjoyed the youth hustings – something Brooke felt should have been “pushed more.” They were equally enthused by the results, with the two top Senatorial candidates being women.

Video: JCG students Brooke and Rebecca shared their post-election reflections with Express.

But the election process wasn’t without its surprises.

Rebecca was taken aback by the candidates standing with their rosettes directly outside the polling stations. They were also both astonished by the low percentage of islanders that take the time to make their voice heard. 

“I was quite shocked when the statistics were coming through and the voter turnout was in the 40s to 50s and some people were like, ‘Woah, that’s so great’ and I was like, ‘That’s terrible’,” Brooke noted.

Rebecca added: “The top candidate for my district had like 600 votes, that’s poor for the most heavily populated part of the island.”

While the pair voted in the real election, their comments came following a mock election at the school, which would have seen a slightly different set of Senators elected.

While Deputies Tracey Vallois and Kristina Moore would have still come top three, they would have been joined by current Chief Minister Senator Ian Gorst, who only came sixth in the Senatorial rankings while Deputy John Le Fondré came third. He came fifth in the JCG poll.

Deputy Sam Mézec, who remained just outside of the list until St. Helier’s vote came in during the real election, would have scored an easy fourth position.

Three candidates who didn’t get elected would have then made it into the team: disability campaigner Anthony Lewis, former lawyer Moz Scott, and Deputy Simon Bree. They would be taking the place of three current politicians who managed to retain their red leather chairs: Senators Lyndon Farnham and Sarah Ferguson, and Constable Steve Pallett.