Move to register more black Hackney voters

Operation Black Vote out on the road getting voter registrations. Photograph: OBV

Activists who want more black people to sign up to vote will be going into schools and churches as part of a democracy boosting scheme.

Around 100 school pupils aged between 14 and 18 who are members of Hackney’s youth parliament will attend the first of a series of high profile events being run by Operation Black Vote (OBV), which is dedicated to increasing democratic representation in black and minority ethnic (BME) communities.

OBV’s assistant director Francine Fernandes said many people of African and Afro-Caribbean heritage did not participate in the democratic process because they did not see representatives who looked like them in government and therefore felt alienated.

She said: “It’s a vicious circle. When you don’t participate in the process, it further reinforces that. We are trying to get people involved in civic society, so becoming school governors, councillors and MPs. We think that if you want to change something you have to be part of the process.”

On 17 October the 100 young politicos will quiz Hackney’s Mayor Jules Pipe at the Town Hall, a prelude to six similar events taking place in schools and black community evangelical churches in the borough.

The initiative is being spearheaded ahead of planned changes to the voter registration process set to be introduced in 2014 and 2015.

Instead of registering together as a household, individuals will be encouraged to register on their own.

OBV has the backing of the Cabinet Office, which wants to raise awareness among BME people about this shift.

The Electoral Commission have estimated that the change in legislation could cause as many as 10 million voters to be lost from registers nationwide and that those most at risk of “dropping off” include people from poorer areas and BME communities, with the under-25s already particularly under-represented in electoral rolls.

Ms Fernandes said: “At a time when the cuts are hitting BME communities the hardest, it is precisely the time when our voices must be heard the loudest. It is vital that we do not shun the political system, but play a full and positive role in the democratic process and hold to account the politicians who seek to represent us. This project will help do that by ensuring that BME communities join up and remain together.”

OBV and the Cabinet Office will be running a series of these voter registration events across four areas of the country from October to January next year, with Hackney as the starting point of the project.

The initiative is being launched against the backdrop of Black History Month, which runs throughout October.