What should we tell young people about voting?

In amongst the junk mail arrives a letter in a brown envelope encouraging me to register my child to vote.

I had to read it twice – my child, to be registered to vote? First, the question: is it really that time already? Second: what can I tell him about how to use his vote? How, in this cynical, weary society littered with broken rules and mislaid promises, can any young person be advised to cast their ballot? Why should they use it at all?

The big kid isn’t actually of voting age yet, but the arrival of the letter – an invitation to take care of the red tape now, ahead of time – shows it is well and truly in the post. 

Far from being at the top of his to-do list, the question of voting barely registers in his world of PS5s and Nat5s. But politics intrudes upon that world regardless of whether or not he raises his head from his smartphone. 

There’s the good – free bus travel is surely second only to unlimited data in the eyes of the under-22s – and then there’s the bad. Because, sorry son, it’s all responsibilities from there on out. Once you cross that ballot paper, you’re crossing the threshold to adulthood, one arbitrary age limit at a time.

My teen is part of that devolution-era cohort which takes the Scottish Parliament as a given, if it registers at all. A two-sphere system of local and UK governance is a thing of the distant past and the first minister is a figure just as prominent as the PM – for those paying attention, at least.

It’s not like there’s nothing in it for teenagers. The courting of the youth vote has been an increasing feature of our politics in the past 25 years, with the franchise extended to 16 and 17-year-olds in time for the independence referendum and enshrined soon after for all local and Holyrood contests. 

Turnout for the 2014 ballot was 75 per cent for the youngest voters, compared with 54 per cent for 18-24-year-olds but decidedly lower than the 55-and-over age group, for which 92 per cent participation was recorded.

Regardless of that disparity, research by Edinburgh and Sheffield universities has found the simple change has the power to shape our politics in the longer term, with those teens who are empowered to vote at 16 and 17 showing higher levels of turnout up to seven years after their first election, compared with those who first took part aged 18 or over. That finding corresponds with findings from outwith Scotland where authorities have taken the same step, such as Austria, Brazil and Nicaragua.

No wonder, then, that we’ve seen youth-focused policies advanced, like those free bus passes and the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law.

And it’s an area in which Scotland has outpaced the rest of the UK, with Wales following in 2019 and the UK Government finally taking a step towards change last month. Amending the Representation of the People Act will allow 16 and 17-year-olds across the UK to vote in Westminster elections for the first time, and it’s hoped the change will be complete in time for the next contest in 2029, meaning 1.4 million more ‘X’ marks are up for grabs.

But there remains disagreement about the wisdom of such a move. “People become adults at 18 and that is when citizenship rights such as voting should be gained,” said Tory MP James Cleverley, whose party thinks the reform is less than smart.

Jings, James, I’d love it if everyone became an adult at 18. Sensible, responsible, reliable.

Rational and respectful; upright and honest. The kind of people, in other words, who are worth voting for. 

We’ve chucked out plans to allow under-18s to become MSPs, thank goodness. But with all the name-calling, rule-breaking and buck-passing we’ve seen from the corridors of power in recent years, there hasn’t always been much separating parliament from playground, with psychodrama so often overshadowing policymaking. It all makes for good headlines, but a healthy body politic? No wonder the NHS is on its knees.

Not to mention the fact that, despite 25 years in which to get it right, Scotland seems more mixed-up than ever when it comes to what and who is on the ballot at any contest. Devolved, reserved, and local issues? It’s kind of important to know the difference. But rather than distinguishing between them, we just jumble it all up and hope for the best. Pothole problems won’t be solved at Westminster nor will a councillor set Scottish social security policy, but somehow we end up talking and voting at cross-purposes. 

So I guess the first and best advice to any young person about to vote for the first time is ‘don’t do it like we’ve been doing it’. Don’t take the wisdom of your elders for granted, because they might not have any. Don’t head to the polling station without at least checking out what sphere of government the contest is about. And don’t expect too much from those you elect. 

But do vote. Vote like you can change the world. You never know, you might get lucky.