More 18-year-olds on Facebook than electoral roll
EIGHTEEN-year- olds are four times more likely to be on Facebook than on the electoral roll, a study has found.
It comes as figures published yesterday revealed that 800,000 people have dropped off the electoral roll since ministers changed the rules for registration.
Students were the main casualty of the changes, which meant households can no longer be registered collectively, with the number of voters falling by more than 10 per cent in some university cities, according to the Labour party.
Around 1.17million 18-year- olds have a Facebook account, while more than one million are registered with YouTube and 800,000 have both a Twitter and Instagram account.
But only around 300,000 joined the electoral roll last year, according to credit data company Experian.
Yesterday Labour said the changes from household to individual electoral registration (IER) had caused many to go ‘missing’ from the register. Some 1.8 per cent of all voters across the country are thought to have fallen off under the new system, which was brought in by ministers before the General Election in a bid to reduce error and fraud.
Numbers fell most dramatically in areas with large student populations. Canterbury has seen a 13 per cent drop, while Cambridge and Dundee West both saw a fall of 11 per cent.
Gloria De Piero, the Labour spokesman on voter registration, said: ‘About 800,000 people are missing from the electoral register. The Government ignored independent warnings not to rush through IER, and now it appears that students are a casualty of their hasty changes.’ Jonathan Westley of Experian said: ‘People who haven’t registered to vote may not realise it’s not just a say on who runs their local council, or the country, that they’re missing out on.
‘Lenders and other service providers use the electoral roll to help check your identity online so... it could help you access a wide range of services, including applying for a passport.
‘It can also be used to calculate your credit rating, potentially helping you access cheaper borrowing. Young people should view registering to vote as an easy way of establishing a credit history.’