Ed Joseph, the Member of Youth Parliament for B&NES is promoting the annual ‘Make Your Mark’ ballot, the largest consultation of young people in the country.
In a ballot beginning 12th August and running till 10th October, young people across the country will be asked what issues matter most to them, in order to determine what is debated by the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) in the House of Commons on 14th November.
Voting takes place both online and through ballot papers issue to schools and youth centers.
Ten topics will be available to choose from on the initial Make Your Mark ballot paper, with the five most popular topics among young people going on to be discussed by MYPs in their November debate, chaired by the Speaker of the House of Commons Rt. Hon. John Bercow MP and broadcast live on BBC Parliament.
Last year, the Make Your Mark ballot surveyed the opinions of over 478,000 young people, making it the largest youth consultation of its kind in the UK.
This year, MYPs have set themselves a target of getting 1,000,000 young people’s votes. Ed has set B&NES a target of 6,000 votes as he wants B&NES to be a hub of Youth democracy and participation, and wants to re-write the figures of last year’s vote before he was the member of Youth Parliament which gathered only 210 responses.
17 year-old MYP Ed Joseph, who will be running the Make Your Mark campaign in B&NES said: “I believe that young people should have the chance to voice their opinion through voting before the age of 18 and that’s just what ‘make your mark’ will do.
“So far I have persuaded 6 local schools with over 7,500 students to sign up, and hopefully more are still to do so. For some this will be the first time their views and voice has been listened to and I look forward to hearing what they have to say.”
