From Deficit to Disenfranchisement: Reframing Youth Electoral Participation

Abstract

Low youth electoral turnouts are considered problematic in many democracies. Here I explore youth electoral engagement in the Australian context where the policy literature attributes low youth electoral enrolments to apathetic and disassociated youth, and the response is Civics and Citizenship education. This construction of youth and advocacy of education prevails despite recent challenges by researchers describing young people as interested in politics and committed to democracy, as well as evidence that education is limited in its capacity to effect change. Here, I ask why, if young people have access to education and express interest in politics, do many still not enrol and vote? With reference to data collected as part of the Australian Youth Electoral Study I argue for a reframing of both the problem and the solution. Instead of focusing on the deficiencies of individual youth, I shift the focus to barriers that can precipitate young people's disenfranchisement. In doing so I examine not ‘deficient youth’, but the capacity of Australia's democracy to facilitate youth electoral engagement. In this context I examine the role that the state plays in constructing these barriers and causing the disenfranchisement of many young Australians.

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on research conducted as part of the Youth Electoral Study (YES). YES is principally funded by the Australian Research Council with Industry Partner funding and in-kind contributions from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Acknowledgements are due to the Chief Investigators for the project, Murray Print from the University of Sydney, Lawrence Saha from the Australian National University as well as to our Partner Investigator, Brien Hallet. In addition, our research staff—Susan Bassett, Mia Christensen, Susan Gilbert, Jen Hayward, David Heath, Sarah Howe, Amy Kuchel, Kris McKracken, Jacqueline Mikulsky, Kate O'Connor, Kate O'Malley, Tony Smith, Kerri Weeks and Michael Willis—contributed to data collection and/or analysis for this project. This paper acknowledges the group effort of researchers by describing the YES research team as ‘we’. However, opinions expressed in this chapter are solely those of the author. Views and opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent those of the AEC. A previous version of this paper entitled ‘Democratic Disadvantage and Discrimination: Voting and Human Rights in Australia’ was presented at the Different Futures: International Conference on Young People, Risk, Resilience and Resistance, Glasgow, September 2006.

Notes

1. These data were obtained from the Australian Electoral Commission and are the best that current methods of modelling of enrolment data can provide. Figures quoted, however, are approximate only and may be subject to future revision.

2. This is despite there being any substantial evidence that such movements occur (Sawer 2006).