Fears of a 'disenfranchised generation' after almost a million people disappear from electoral roll
Crackdown on voter fraud could cause a massive reduction in turnout
Andrew Grice Author Biography , Hannah Fearn
Thursday 15 January 2015
Hundreds of thousands of young people could miss the chance to vote in May’s general election following a change in the way people register, prompting fears of a “disenfranchised generation”.
New figures reveal that almost one million people have gone missing from the electoral roll in the past year. Today Ed Miliband will describe it as a “scandal” and accuse the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats of denying young people a voice.
To combat fraud, the Government is switching from household registration to a system where people can no longer register others in their household and must add themselves individually to the roll.
This means that universities and colleges no longer register students living in halls of residence. Statistics compiled by Labour show a big fall in registered voters in university towns and cities including Cardiff, Liverpool, Newcastle, Southampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Brighton, Durham and Hull. In London, the drop is almost 100,000.
More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/fears-of-a-disenfranchised-generation-after-almost-a-million-people-disappear-from-electoral-roll-9981453.html