Posted: 08/05/15
Election fever at West Notts
Election fever took over at West Nottinghamshire College yesterday (7 May) as students got a chance to vote in the mock elections.
(lr) SU communications officer Ashleigh Trolley, Tamara Robinson and Jak Smith
Staged by the Students’ Union, the mock elections took place across all college campuses and gave students both under and over 18 years of age, the opportunity to think about who they would vote for and why.
Ballot boxes were provided and members of the Students’ Union got involved in speaking with students about their political views.
Pictured are health and social care students Tamara Robinson and Jak Smith at the Derby Road campus.
Tamara, 18, said: “This is the first year I’m eligble to vote. The party I vote for, I expect the leader to be someone who knows what they’re doing and actually does what they say they are going to do to help the country.”
Jak, 20, said: “This is my second year of voting and I’ll be choosing someone who I feel keeps their promises and will follow through with actions to make this country a better place to live.”
Students’ Union communications officer Ashleigh Trolley said: “Over the last few weeks we’ve been running lots of election tutorials to inform students more about politics.
“We staged a game called Show Me The Money where students got the chance to be George Osbourne and say where they’d spend the country’s budget if they had the choice.
“We’ve encouraged students to vote and explained why it’s important to do so and hopefully those who aren’t yet old enough to take part, will feel more informed when they turn 18.”
After all votes were gathered from the mock election 243 votes were counted with the majority of under 18s voting for Labour (42%) and the majority of over 18s voting for Labour (39%). Only 3% said they would choose to not vote.
