DEMOCRACY IN ACTION: HNC TO VOTE IN MOCK ELECTION
25.06.2024Throughout the lead up to the UK General Election taking place on Thursday 4 July, HNC’s Politics team have been sharing more about our local candidates and the wider political scene with the College community. Following on from this, Thursday will see the College come together to vote in a mock ‘General Election’ where we will be asking our staff and students to choose their next ‘MP’.
On the day, the HNC community will be invited to cast their vote at our ‘polling station’ which will be situated in the meeting area at the rear of the LRC. Here, voters will be asked to register ahead of receiving their ballot and must bring their student ID to be eligible to vote. After voting closes, our trusted Politics team will count the votes, with the winner being announced the following day. The process that our mock election will follow will closely reflect how voters will make their choice on the 4 July, with polling station staff managing the booths, the voters and the ballot papers to ensure a fair and transparent election.
The ‘candidates’ listed on the ballot papers will represent the political parties who are standing in the upcoming General Election, and we are keen to explore how our vote in HNC – where many of our students are not yet old enough to cast their vote – will either reflect or differ to next week’s local and national results.
This is just one of the ways in which our students can engage with democracy, with events being hosted throughout the year. As well as taking part in initiatives such as UK Parliament Week, our student body are tasked with voting in our annual charity of the year – experiencing how their vote can make a genuine difference to the issues that matter to them. Nina Attridge, Teacher of Politics, comments “the HNC mock election is the latest opportunity for our community to exercise their democratic rights and we can’t wait to see whether staff and students at HNC will vote in a way that reflects next week’s eventual results, or whether our community will choose a party that goes against the general consensus within the UK. Many of our students will not be old enough to vote in this General Election, so this is an invaluable experience for our young voters to experience democracy in action and gain a flavour of how the political system works in the UK. I hope that staff and students will join us in casting their vote this Thursday.”
The winning ‘candidate’ will be announced on Friday 28 June. Who will be HNC’s next ‘governing party’?
New Hey Road, Huddersfield, HD3 4GL
