Give an X

Behind the groundbreaking youth voter registration campaign

By Jordan Farrell

Images courtesy of Shape History. Used with permission.

Images courtesy of Shape History. Used with permission.

The UK general election is fast approaching with less than two weeks before the country goes to the polls on July 4. Yet, with an opportunity to have their say on the future of the nation, more than four million young people will not be casting their vote.

Disrupted education, Covid lockdowns, declining mental health, a cost-of-living crisis and being unable to afford their own home are just some of the pressing issues currently impacting young people in the UK.

But many believe their vote doesn't have the ability to change things and that politicians don't care about their interests. At least one in three young people in England, aged 18-24, are not registered to vote.

London-based charity My Life My Say are on a mission to address just this. They have aimed to make young people heard and encourage them to engage and take part in decision making processes that affect their lives, reaching six million young people since 2013.

This year, they launched Give an X, a youth-led, non-partisan campaign, in partnership with the #iWill Movement and the social impact communications agency Shape History.

It is the largest youth voter registration initiative in the UK, with the goal of getting every young person, aged 18-24, registered to vote and into polling booths for the upcoming election and beyond, building a more inclusive and representative electoral process.

The voter registration deadline for the election was on Tuesday where 164,000 18-24-year old's registered to vote. SW Londoner spoke to some of the key figures behind the groundbreaking campaign.

"We get frustrated when people say we don’t care about politics. We do."

The name ‘Give an X’ was born from frustration at the assumption that young people do not know enough or care enough about politics. 

What Give an X has sought to do is reassure young people that they don’t need to be political experts to participate in the upcoming election and is encouraging them to make their voices heard on issues that are pertinent to them.

Dan Lawes, 23, Head of Partnerships at My Life My Say, explained this frustration and what Give an X means.

He said: “We get frustrated when people say we don’t care about politics, we do.

“But young people really care about issues. They care about housing, they care about mental health, they care about the climate crisis. 

“It allows us to tailor our messaging to issues-based campaigning. What do you give an X about? I give an X about the cost-of-living crisis, I give an X about having a roof over my head.”

Lauren Kay-Lambert, Co-Managing Director of Shape History, said: “You don’t have to be an expert in politics or particular politicians or constituencies.

“You’re an expert in your own passions, in your own experiences, in the issues you care about.”

Images courtesy of Shape History. Used with permission.

Images courtesy of Shape History. Used with permission.

Images courtesy of Shape History. Used with permission.

Images courtesy of Shape History. Used with permission.

The story so far...

My Life My Say has coordinated the annual National Voter Registration Day since 2021, described on their website as a ‘non-partisan mass mobilisation day'.

It is a day designed to get those not yet registered to vote onto the electoral roll and its success gave rise to the Give an X campaign.

Work began on what became Give an X in August last year and secured funding from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, a limited company who make grants for campaigns that are ineligible for charitable funding.

By December the campaign had recruited a youth steering group, aged 18-24. Prior to joining the steering group, eight out of ten members were young people who hadn’t registered to vote themselves. 

SW Londoner spoke to one of the steering group members, Patrick Cook.

Between December and March, this steering group co-designed the campaign’s name, logos, graphics and key messaging supported by an expert advisory group comprising leaders from academia, the youth sector, the electoral commission and various other industries. 

Mete Coban MBE, CEO of My Life My Say and the youngest elected councillor in the London borough of Hackney, said: “They work with all our designers around the look and feel of the campaign, even the name ‘Give an X’ they came up with.

“So, it doesn’t come across like a company whose set up a voter ad campaign, it comes across as very organic." 

The campaign went live on April 11 ahead of National Voter Registration Day on April 16.

On that day, the government received a surge of new registrations with 113,000 18-30-year-olds registering to vote before the local elections took place on May 2.

Of that number, approximately 100,000 of them were aged 18-24, 75,200 of which came directly from the campaign’s links, indicating that Give an X had cut through to its target demographic.

Coban said: “That was record-breaking for registrations in a single day ahead of a local election in recent history. 

“We’re very hopeful we can get a million [for the general election] and we need to because we currently have about 4.2 million young people missing from the electoral roll so it’s a big job.”

On June 18, 355,548 18-34-year-olds registered to vote, of which 164,000 were aged 18-24.

Since the general election was announced approximately 2.9 million people registered to vote.

Of those, 744,631 were aged under 25 and 896,825 were aged 25-34 totalling over 1.6 million registrations.

Images courtesy of My Life My Say. Used with permission.

Images courtesy of My Life My Say. Used with permission.

The digital element of the campaign is one of three strands that could be considered to constitute the ongoing impact of Give an X.

Shape History collaborated with the youth steering group on designing the messaging, the verbal identity, the visuals and the look and feel of the campaign through a series of ongoing workshops.

What is produced is then used to reach 18-24-year-olds in their digital lives via social media channels such as Instagram and X and using influencers to spread the word on TikTok.

This goes hand in hand with the next strand. Give an X has galvanised support from a coalition of over 270 organisations, including 30 of the UK’s leading brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Lime Bike, Snapchat and, as was announced on Tuesday, Tinder.

They are working with these partners to engage directly with Gen Z audiences with Give an X messaging in the build-up to the general election.

In addition to the brands, Give an X is also supported by the mental health charity, Mind, and a number of high profile activists such as housing and social issues campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa, online safety campaigner and former Love Island contestant Amy Hart and Sharon Gaffka, a campaigner to prevent violence against women who also appeared on the show.

The final strand is the grassroots work behind the campaign focusing on day-to-day human connection with young people.

This includes My Life My Say’s renowned ‘Democracy Café’s’, the modernised version of the 17th century coffee house tradition that brings young people together to engage them in democracy and the issues important to them.

But a key theme that pulls everything together that emerged from speaking to those involved was that it was all about meeting young people where they are.

Mete Coban told SW Londoner: “Our approach to engagement is to connect with young people where they already are.

“So, connecting with some of the biggest cultural brands, icons and spaces where young people spend most of their time and thinking about the digital apps they spend most time on.”

Another key part of the campaign is that Give an X doesn't operate independently and is looking to incorporate other voter registrations campaigns in the country.

Lauren Kay-Lambert said: “We’ve seen a lot of campaigns striving to do the same thing but without authentically hitting the mark with how to engage young people directly. They’re operating in silos, whilst trying to create similar impact.

“Our aim is to work together with these organisations and brands to create something truly monumental.”

The importance of young people voting

There are currently more than four million young people not registered to vote, a population that would represent the second largest city in England behind London.

New data from the polling company Opinium on 18-24-year-olds, commissioned by My Life My Say, shows how alienated young people feel about politics.

They found that more than four in ten (42%) 18-24-year-olds in the UK feel their vote doesn’t have the ability to change things with three quarters (75%) saying politicians don’t care about them.

More than half (57%) said they are not optimistic about the future of the country.

The data also revealed that the three most important issues young people believe the country is facing at the moment are health and the NHS (54%), the economy (43%) and housing and house prices (42%).

The importance of those issues reflect the conditions young people currently face with more than half (53%) saying their parents were better off financially and had more opportunities at their age than they currently do.

Three quarters (76%) are concerned about the cost of private renting in their area, while one of the key policies they believe the next government should prioritise is increased funding for mental health services (37%).

Yet, in the 2019 election, polling company Ipsos found that under half of 18-24-year-olds voted while more than 70% of those aged over 65 went to the polls.

Subsequently, political parties are more inclined to target groups more likely to vote.

Speaking to Mete Coban, My Life My Say and Give an X are seeking to change this by making young people’s voices heard.

He said: “Politicians will have no choice but to make policies geared toward young people if they know we are registered en-masse.

“It’s about letting our presence as a generation be felt.”

"If you don't do politics, politics will do you."

Dan Lawes highlighted the importance of registering to vote insisting that by doing so, it gives young people agency and power about deciding their futures.

He said: “You are the expert in your own lived experience.

“No one else can tell you how you have lived your life and don’t let anyone else make decisions about your life other than you.

“If you don’t do politics, politics will do you, right?”

Speaking to George Fielding from the #iWill Movement, he understood the lack of trust many young people have for the political process.

He said: “If you’ve lost the trust through trauma, the last thing you’re going to trust is potentially the people who have either knowingly or unknowingly traumatised you in the past.”

But he conceded: “If you don’t show up at the polling booth, you are sadly less likely to be considered in the political debate.”

SW Londoner spoke to young London resident Molly Taylor about young people voting and the Give an X campaign.

Images courtesy of My Life My Say. Used with permission.

Images courtesy of My Life My Say. Used with permission.

Looking forwards...

Give an X’s campaign didn’t stop at encouraging young people to register to vote for the upcoming general election.

The next step, Mete Coban says, is to make sure young people are informed and prepared to vote on July 4.

This includes pushing people to apply for a postal or proxy vote if they can’t vote on the day as well.

This will also be the first general election in the UK where voter identification for in-person voting is required following the Elections Act 2022.

The latest data shows that one in five young people (21%) were not aware they now needed photo ID to vote in the general election.

Give an X will be encouraging those who do not have the correct ID to apply for a free voter ID document before the deadline on Wednesday 26 June.

Following that there will be a big push, both online and offline, to encourage people to vote on election day itself.

The Give an X campaign will not end when the polls close on July 4 either.

Lauren Kay-Lambert said: “We don’t see this as being a one-off campaign moment, we see this as really being a movement.”

“You see when it’s Pride Month or Black History Month, a lot of brands just do one-off things and it’s just not authentic.

“We’re ultimately meeting young people where they are by embedding the message day-to-day through digital targeting and partnering with brands that young people trust.

"It’s really just a simple case of listening to young people and tapping into what they’re saying!”

The Give an X campaign is testament to the power of young people coming together to enact change.

As George Fielding said: "There's a lot of power in youth and it serves us all to engage with young people."

Images courtesy of Shape History and My Life My Say. Used with permission.

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