By David Levene
The last York Council elections, in 2007, saw a candidate (in the interests of non-partisanship, I won’t say which) take the following electoral strategy in Heslington ward, which includes both the village and the University campus. The candidate ignored campus, relying on low student turnout and generally sympathetic national feeling. The strategy, as they go, was a successful one. How did this happen, and why should students care?
The first question has a relatively simple answer. Accommodation is locked down, making face-to-face contact very difficult. The way the University registers students to vote means that addresses are not recorded, only colleges. For example, in my first year, I would have been registered as just David Levene, Halifax College, rather than David Levene, House E, Wood Court, Halifax College (I don’t live there any more, in case anyone gets any clever ideas). This means students can’t be contacted by mail either, for example surveys to find out student opinion.
Though some may quite like this situation, as it means less contact from slimy politicians, it serves to systematically exclude students from the political process and means that student turnout plummets. Some will argue that because student turnout is extremely low, parties are less inclined to try and reach them. Others will argue that candidates should make an effort around campus and hold public meetings – which I wholeheartedly agree with – but the current setup reinforces political disengagement and makes the situation even worse.
So what are the solutions? There are a number of practical steps that could be taken to combat this exclusion. Firstly, every year in YUSU elections, dozens of different candidates gain access to accommodation, with proper security measures applied. To put in place a system where four or five local election candidates were given a similar opportunity, escorted by YUSU or College reps, for example, only once every four years would be easy. Secondly, the University could register students properly, in the same way as all other residents in York (including students off-campus) are registered. Thirdly, put a ballot box on Heslington East – student turnout went up for the first time since YUSU arranged for a ballot box to be put in Vanbrugh, so Hes East students should be given the same opportunity.
These are issues students should be fighting tooth and nail for, because otherwise, politicians will continue to have no fear of students. And when politicians have no fear of students, they lose out on national issues like tuition fees or local issues like public transport. The current councillor has never even held public meetings on campus to meet with student constituents to hear their concerns (I’m still trying to be non-partisan, by the way).
Love him or loathe him, Tony Benn tells a great story on this. When campaigning in a General Election, Benn was told by an unhappy constituent that they never vote. Benn asked him whether there was anything he could do to get his vote; the constituent said there wasn’t. Benn then asked whether there was anything he could do that would get the constituent to vote for one of his opponents; again the constituent said there wasn’t. Benn then announced that in that case, he couldn’t care less what the constituent thought. Not a lesson on how politicians should think or behave, certainly, but if we can’t get students voting, we might end up with higher fees and overpriced buses. Oh, wait…
David Levene is a Labour candidate in the 2011 York Council elections, and former Chair of Union Council.