1,2,3 yes, yes, yes.

4,Economic issues, workfare.

5, EU referendum, electoral reform.

Originally Posted by Kidcov88

Questions:

1. Have you voted before?

2. Do you plan to vote in the 2009 elections?

3. Would you be willing to cast your vote online if security measures were ensured?

4. Which political issues do you feel most strongly about?

5. Which political issues do you feel least strongly about?

1. Yes, in the EU Parliamentary elections, but never in a general election.

2. Yes

3. Yes, but I would prefer to use a paper ballot unless it was very inconvenient to do so.

4. Constitutional & electoral reform, education (especially higher education), the NHS.

5. Agriculture, EU referendum. To be honest, I do care about pretty much all issues.

1. Have you voted before?
Yes

2. Do you plan to vote in the 2009 elections?
Yes

3. Would you be willing to cast your vote online if security measures were ensured?
No. Forcing people to get off their backsides and physically go somewhere is a key part of the process as far as I'm concerned. If you can't be bothered to clear the first apathy hurdle, I don't care about your views being represented. Other existing voting measures are adequate to cover those that genuinely can't reach a polling station.

4. Which political issues do you feel most strongly about?
Disparity of incomes (poverty), state dependency, social alienation, electoral reform, housing/planning system, elitism/class and unearned privilidge, transport.

5. Which political issues do you feel least strongly about?
Foxhunting.

Also you're off the mark in stating that the politicians are the point of failure when attempting to connect to the 18-30 voting block. The politicians themselves are, and always have been boring, tedious, incompitent and thoroughly unlikeable. The source of the political alienation is that our two-party system has pushed a vast number of issues that were once the at the forefront of politics in the UK to the fringe. Anything that now falls outside the duopoly enjoyed by the Lab/Con elite is considered politically dangerous, and the once grand sweeping questions that underpinned ideologically distinct political movements have now all been conclusively "answered", and anyone that wishes to re-open the debate is considered either a dinosaur or an extremist.

Hi thanks for participating. I would tend to agree with you about the alienation in a two party system. I am actually trying to create a way for voters to find the vote that represents their issues of concern the most, regardless of the status of a party.

While many studies do suggest that young voters fail to connect with politicians because they simply do not relate to their lives, it is by no means the only reason. This is why I am trying to find out more about the concerns of this age group, to actually help them feel that using their vote effectively could make a difference.

While there have been tons of campaigns that go with the ol' don't vote don't have your say message I am going to try to avoid this, by helping those who aren't particularly in the know to find out who represents them and what their vote can do for them.

Like I say thanks for the participation. Answers to the subject, the questions and anything else are appreciated.

I wouldn't exactly call it lying. The lowest number of people that vote are in the age group of 18-24. According to Y-Vote Mock Elections the Lib Dems have much larger support in this age group and tend to have more liberal views. If more people of this age group were to vote then they would at least strengthen the campaigns of some of the smaller parties.

I also looked at the campaign of Dr. Richard Wyre, who campaigned almost on a single issue. I think there is definitely some power in helping younger voters to identify with a candidate who represents an issue of concern for them. At the very least, this approach could make a case for young people to have an interest in decision making processes.

Originally Posted by Kidcov88

to actually help them feel that using their vote effectively could make a difference.

Could but won't. As MN muses, the current first-past-the-post system has made sure that the incentive to stray from the big three is minimised.

If you're really looking for a way to engage this group in the political process (i.e. not just voting), I would suggest moving your focus away from encouraging participation in what is frankly a broken system, and move towards the idea of applying pressure aimed at rectifying the systemic faults we've touched on, or replacing the system altogether.

Thanks for your input guys, I understand what you are saying but at the same time I am answering to a brief, so I have to keep the aims of the brief in mind. I am not looking to come up with a new system but make the existing one we have more inclusive and if possible more effective

Out of interest though, what would you propose and what are your main issues with the current system? I am not defending the voting system, I'm just trying to get your personal insights and answers the questions.

1. Have you voted before?
Yes - European elections

2. Do you plan to vote in the 2009 elections?
Yes?

3. Would you be willing to cast your vote online if security measures were ensured?
I would prefer paper ballot

4. Which political issues do you feel most strongly about?
Economy, Europe, Taxation

5. Which political issues do you feel least strongly about?

Constitutional and Electoral reform