Professor Jon Pammett, a political science professor at Carleton who has studied voter turnout in Canadian elections, said there are many reasons why youth vote less than older people. Pammett said he has found that voter cynicism isn’t an issue among young voters, but a lack of interest and feeling of civic duty is.
“[The lack of youth voters] has more to do with a lack of development of a sense of interest in politics in the first place, then secondly a lack of the old fashioned kind of civic duty. The feelings of civic duty for older generations are what we would call expressive. They express what you are,” Pammett said. “For younger people, voting is more instrumental. ‘I’ll vote if my vote can accomplish something.’ Fewer younger people, than older people, feel that their vote will accomplish things.”
Pammett also cited issues such as difficulty getting to a voting station and technical processes as reasons why youth vote less.
“There are some technical reasons that have to do with appearance on the voting list or residency. Those are things that need to be done by young people in the first place to get on the voting list,” Pammett said.
There is also the issue of obtaining appropriate voter identification that often deters youth from voting.
“A lot of young people themselves mention the voter I.D. problem, finding acceptable voter identification records that attest to their living at a certain address,” Pammett said.
The more difficult it is for youth to vote, the less likely they are to do it, despite how important it is for them to vote, according to Pammett.
“It is only through participating in voting that people get into the habit of voting. Voting research shows that if young people start voting at young ages, particularly in the first election for which they are eligible, then they will continue. If they miss one, or two, or three, it is quite possible that they may never vote. So, it is important for that reason,” Pammett said. “Voting, as an act of participation, is connected to everything else in the acts of participation . . . if young people don’t vote, they will be unlikely to do other kinds of participatory social and political participation.”
Pammett said that he does not see anything about the upcoming federal election that would suggest that youth voter turnout would increase from previous elections.
“I think this longer campaign is putting a lot of people to sleep. Furthermore, the election is occurring in October and October is a busy time for university students, even for those who are not away from home and facing additional difficulties in either going back to their home constituencies or having difficulties getting established in a new place. They’re busy. There are a lot of things that might deter young people from voting in this election,” Pammett said.
