Is something happening on 23rd June?

By Mary Reid | Tue 10th May 2016 - 10:12 am

It seems a lot of events are happening around the country on June 23rd – Glastonbury for one. The clash with the Referendum is of some significance, because festivals attract younger people who are more likely to vote to Remain. So it is good to learn that the organisers have emailed all ticket holders encouraging them to apply for postal or proxy votes and telling them how to do just that.

It is also the time of year when many people who are not tied to school holidays are away from home – far more than in early May. Which means that a lot of people will realise too late that they won’t be able to vote in the European Referendum.

So one of our urgent tasks is to ensure that supporters for Remain apply for their postal votes in plenty of time. It is not necessarily easy to identify who our target audience might be, but a bit of demographic analysis should indicate geographical areas or identifiable groups that it would be good to reach out to. For example, people under 40 with a university degree are more likely to vote to Remain, and in some parts of the country many of these can be met at the local railway station on a weekday at around 8am.

The deadline for applications for postal votes is 5pm on 8th June (or 5pm on 3rd June in Northern Ireland). You can refer people to online information about postal voting in the Referendum, or simply hand them postal vote application forms.

* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.

Read more by Mary Reid or more about European referendum.
This entry was posted in Op-eds.

4 Comments

crewegwyn 10th May '16 - 11:55am

Fair point. Not as though the referendum has been getting lots of publicity.

🙂
DJ 10th May '16 - 9:46pm

There is also a small football tournament where you’d expect most flying over to France would be mostly in favour of maintaining the EU relationship with Europe (especially if Wales, NI, Ireland, England or Wales wins the thing).
Mary Reid 11th May '16 - 9:24am

@DJ – should have mentioned that as well, but it wasn’t on my radar, I’m afraid. And what would the demographic for the Euro 2016 be?
Paul Murray 11th May '16 - 9:28am

The sequel to the movie “Independence Day” is opening on June 24th. I would imagine that there will be advertising on the side of buses saying “Independence Day arrives June 24th” or some such.