Could the youth vote make a significant impact on the upcoming election results?
According to a group of tertiary students, they say they hold the power and now they're on a mission to prove it.
Their aim is to get every student across the country to vote in the upcoming general elections
Spokesperson for We Have Power Jonathan Gee says, “We're fed up with politics as usual. We feel that politicians have failed to speak to us and speak to the issues that we care about. We’re looking for more aspirational solutions to the problems we face as a country.”
They feel they've been left out for too long and this year they want change.
Campaigner Jacob McGregor says, “It's really hard for some people here to vote because most of them don’t know how to, why they should vote, those sorts of things.”
Gee says, “What makes us different is that we're connected intimately with the campuses across the country so really leveraging on the opportunity with our student associations there to build a grassroots movement.”
The We Have Power campaign is inspired by young political movements overseas such as the surge in youth voting in the recent UK election proving that a difference can actually be made.
McGregor says, “It's about welcoming the students and setting up spaces for youth and students where they can learn how to vote from here and or overseas.”
Gee says, “It's speaking about politics in the spaces where young people already are”
After launching their news website, the group plan to exercise their powers through social media and technology in the lead up to elections.