he right to vote is not given due importance in our country and that is a problem because it deters voting.
KARACHI: During the past several decades, voter participation has been plummeting dramatically. The most notable decline has been that of voting by young people. Although the percentage of young voters has always been poor, in the previous election, it reached an all-time low. However, there are ways to increase voter turnout through simple reforms and legislation. The most obvious reasons for low voter turnout are the registration and voting processes. Young people often do not bother registering to vote. Even though registration takes a short amount of time and is relatively simple, many young people do not see it as a productive activity and are either too busy or too apathetic to register.
A simple solution to this problem would be to register all citizens automatically when they turn 18. The right to vote is not given due importance in our country and that is a problem because it deters voting. Without exercising the right to vote, a citizen has no say in the future of the country. Poor voter turnouts result in more apathy and thus, even lower turnouts in future.
M Osama Afnan Hanafi
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2013.
