Fears Highlands middle-aged voters could be turned off
Fed-up middle-aged people in the Highlands may never vote in council elections again, unless efforts to entice them to the ballot box are made, it has been claimed.
The local authority is investigating how it can encourage more residents to take part, after low turnout rates at last year’s elections, where it slumped to less than 20 per cent in some areas.
A mock election will be held at a Highland secondary school in a bid promote voting young people and the views of higher education students have been sought to find other initiatives.
But Independent councillor Andrew Baxter - a former election agent for the Conservative party - warned the authority was at risk of forgetting people in his own age group if it only concentrated on younger people.
"We do risk over emphasis with our work with youth engagement," said the Lochaber member, who is concerned they are turned off by politics.
"One of the things I see are people who are disenfranchised with politics and they are the most affected. My age group are worrying about their Council Tax going up, schools and if they have parents in care homes affected by social care changes.
"I know there is a generation of middle-aged people who are very unlikely to vote in their life and that is a great concern."
John Bruce, the authority’s elections manager, said it did not have any specific plans to target people aged over the age of 25 but disengagement with elections was an international problem in the developing world.
"They don’t realise what they have got, politicians take decisions at every level whether in Europe, the Highlands or at community council level," said Mr Bruce.
Talks with UHI students about how the council can encourage young people to vote in the next local government election in 2017 are planned, while a mock election is scheduled for a secondary school next year in a bid to entice pupils.
Meanwhile, former Nairn provost Laurie Fraser, an Independent councillor, has claimed the increase in profile of party politics in the region had turned off potential voters.
The Independents which had long been the dominant force in local Highland politics lost power of the authority to the SNP, Liberal Democrats and Labour last year for the first time.
"From going around the doorstep last year I found people dislike politics in local elections," said Councillor Fraser.
