“THEY DON’T WANT US TO VOTE”: Rize Up reprises its mission to get young people to speak up in election
Voter registration campaign that drove almost 1m under 25s register to vote in last election, returns bigger and better than ever
Rize Up, the independent voter registration campaign aimed at marginalised young people in the UK, is stepping up its mission to get those least likely to vote to have their say in the upcoming election on December 12th 2019.
With the stakes higher than ever before, Rize Up believes the 22.7million people who didn’t vote in the 2017 election could change everything if they were to register to vote by 26th November, and take a stand to change the future. With the number of non-voters in 2017 almost doubling that of the leading party (13.6million votes for the Conservatives), it is this untapped sector of the population which could hold the key to major societal reform.
Following its inaugural campaign which broke all records and drove a further one million young people to register to vote, Rize Up returns this week with the ambition to reach even more people and empower them to cast their vote.
Founded in 2017 by photographer and director Josh Cole, Rize Up adopts a different approach which ‘empowers rather than brow-beats’ to engage young people.
By focusing on the potential impact, rather than the duty of voting, the moment empowered swathes of politically disillusioned and disengaged under 25 year olds to claim the vote that politicians didn’t expect or want them to use. Its powerful message of ‘represent to be represented’ resonated with millions who believe the electorate should be more representative of young people.
Joined in 2017 by countless artists, many of them first time voters themselves - including Rudimental, Tinie Tempah, Professor Green, Big Narstie, Maverick Sabre, Emeli Sande, Lily Allen, Doc Brown and more, the latest campaign seeks to surpass their previous success. ‘They don’t want us to vote’ was the unlikely rallying cry of one of the first Rize Up social media posts, quickly establishing a tone that differentiated it from any previous voter registration campaign.
Josh Cole, founder of Rize Up commented: “This snap election is one of the most significant of our lifetime, and it’s never been more important to cast your vote and transform your future. Opting out allows politicians to focus their efforts on the baby boomers and generation Y, but it’s the young and marginalised who have the power to
change the UK forever. They don’t expect us to show up. Let’s show them they should never underestimate us again.”
2019 kicks off with a bang
Rize Up officially kicked off its 2019 pre-election campaign on Thursday with a high octane event that set the intention for the movement’s biggest campaign to date. Hosted at London’s Lush Studios, the event was attended by high-profile including, Maverik Sabre and Professor Green who proudly stand as campaign partners and will continue to be an integral driving force behind the movement along side other artists like Lady Leshuur and Rudimental.
Cole and his team of volunteers will continue to bring the campaign to life online, across social media and in the streets, directly targeting millions of young potential voters in the places that they look for information, community and inspiration.
For the first time, over 1000 volunteers across the UK will form street teams distributing hundreds of thousands of flyers across the UK and speaking directly to young people. A rigorous digital campaign will run across social media, supported by a team of influencers on and offline, while a UK-wide mural campaign will convey the message to the nation.
Rize Up will also be partnering with numerous brands which support their mission that young people should use their voice. Following 2017’s success, high street retailer Lush will once again set up polling stations within every one of its 90 UK stores allowing anyone - including homeless people - to cast their vote.
Additional British and Global brands including leading UK musical festival Boomtown and Ben & Jerry’s will be lending their support, while official beer partner Drygate Brewing Co prepare to launch the official beer #RIZEUPUK, to raise both support and profits for the cause. The campaign is also supported by advocacy groups like Hope Not Hate, Voice 4 Change England and Operation Black Vote.
Josh Coles continued: “We want to build on the wealth of support we have already built with artists, musicians and brands in order to reach disengaged and ignored young people. Without them generously giving their time and influence, Rize Up wouldn’t be where it is. As it gains momentum in the coming days, we invite anyone who believes in change to join our movement and spread our message.”
Find out more at rizeup.org or help donate via https://www.gofundme.com/f/rize-up-voter- registration.
Ends
Notes to editors
The impact of the 2017 Rize Up campaign:
● 1,914,660 Brits under the age of 35 registered to vote in the election in June 2017, almost half a million more than the total registrations from the same bracket (1,464,225) in 2015 ● Daily registrations of under 25s spiked to over 90K on 21st May, and reached a record 246K plus on 22nd ● This contrasts with the drop in voter registrations of all age categories above 35, compared with 2015
● Artists declaring their support for the campaign included Rudimental, Tinie Tempah, Professor Green, Big Narstie, Maverick Sabre, Emeli Sande, Lily Allen, Doc Brown, Brian May, UB40, Steel Pulse, Skinnyman, Rodney P, Novar FLIP, Genesis Elijah, Blak Twang, Soweto Kinch, Cleveland Watkiss, Phili n Dotz, Ian Berry, Sonny Wharton, Eddy Temple-Morris and Rick Astley. ● Every Lush store in the UK joined the campaign, posting up Rize Up materials in their shop fronts and seeing staff literally leaving their stores to urge young voters to register. ● Working in conjunction with youth company Biggafish, Rize Up was supported by volunteer street teams signing up voters in cities and town centres across the UK including London, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Bolton, Chester, Birmingham, Norwich and Brighton. In the run up to the voter registration deadline over half a million leaflets handed out. ● Rize Up joined forces with Bite the Ballot campaign for a live stream with Lily Allen at Twitter London. ● They have had the support of creative agency Studio Output and PR agency Manifest London. ● Online videos, tweets, gifs, articles and films pulled in over 17,983,832 impressions* on Twitter, nearly 7,830,798 million reached* on Facebook and millions more on Instagram. ● The campaign spoke to millions, we changed minds and we broke every registration record for young people.
Voter statistics
All data taken from https://www.gov.uk/performance/register-to-vote
Voters registering in the 34 days prior to the deadline
< 25 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64 65 - 74 75+ total
993,321 921,339 412,899 234,416 128,455 67,121 30,544 2,788,095 2017 687,143 777,082 432,751 294,723 159,885 80,957 43,436 2,475,977
2015
306,178 144,257 -19,852 -60,307 -31,430 -13,836 -12,892 312,118 change
+/- diff 44.56% 18.6% -4.6% -20.5% -19.7% -17.1% -29.7% 12.6%
2017 Voter Registration
< 25 25 - 35 - 45 - 55 - 65 - 75+ 34 44 54 64 74
993,32 921,3 412,8 234,4 128,4 67,1 30,5 Registrations in 34 days prior to 1 39 99 16 55 21 44 voter deadline
682,34 585,8 250,0 138,7 70,00 31,4 14,9 Registrations in last 12 days and 3 60 45 88 4 82 39 the Launch of RizeUp
310,97 335,4 162,8 95,62 58,45 35,6 15,6 numerical increase 8 79 54 8 1 39 05 percentage registering in the last 12 days 68.7% 63.6% 60.6% 59.2% 54.5% 46.9% 48.9%
2015 Voter Registration
< 25 25 - 35 - 45 - 55 - 65 - 75+ 34 44 54 64 74
687,14 777,0 432,7 294,7 159,8 80,9 43,4 34 days prior to voter registration 3 82 51 23 85 57 36 deadline
395,07 420,3 233,5 155,3 78,90 36,2 20,0 Registrations in the last 12 days of 6 40 07 59 6 87 16 registration
292,06 356,7 199,2 139,3 80,97 44,6 23,4 numerical increase 7 42 44 64 9 70 20 percentage registering in the last 12 days 57.5% 54.1% 54.0% 52.7% 49.4% 44.8% 46.1%
Voter Registrations 2017
date Day under 25
19-Apr-17 1 26,573
20-Apr-17 2 18,879
21-Apr-17 3 16,323 17,315 8,377 4,891 2,997 1,978 842
22-Apr-17 4 11,855 11,842 5,326 2,905 1,552 823 289
23-Apr-17 5 14,554 14,027 5,575 3,024 1,603 810 321
24-Apr-17 6 19,210 18,344 8,142 4,431 2,712 1,853 830
25-Apr-17 7 12,596 13,646 6,876 4,024 2,514 1,627 765
26-Apr-17 8 11,782 12,745 6,260 3,687 2,458 1,634 747
27-Apr-17 9 10,147 10,670 5,669 3,318 2,269 1,510 769
28-Apr-17 10 7,918 8,494 4,443 2,790 1,935 1,193 571
29-Apr-17 11 6,980 7,336 3,656 2,074 1,244 751 225
30-Apr-17 12 7,827 7,949 3,615 2,206 1,198 704 252
01-May-17 13 10,201 11,225 5,132 2,808 1,592 879 314
02-May-17 14 11,709 14,175 7,258 4,371 2,763 1,733 736
03-May-17 15 13,647 16,866 9,063 5,618 3,472 2,069 820
04-May-17 16 20,073 22,612 11,412 6,456 3,808 2,291 974
05-May-17 17 13,411 15,363 8,134 4,999 3,126 1,852 765
06-May-17 18 7,681 8,471 4,275 2,577 1,508 800 310
07-May-17 19 9,289 10,539 5,113 2,992 1,573 701 299
08-May-17 20 20,716 24,689 12,373 7,424 4,460 2,719 1,246
09-May-17 21 18,803 20,676 9,989 6,021 3,549 1,941 1,102
10-May-17 22 20,804 20,730 9,727 5,803 3,441 2,161 1,193
11-May-17 23 22,035 22,337 11,068 6,588 3,771 2,200 1,198
12-May-17 24 20,392 19,183 9,619 5,748 3,539 2,255 1,152
13-May-17 25 37,426 40,801 18,941 9,862 4,544 1,844 565
14-May-17 26 26,060 25,334 10,679 6,155 2,994 1,044 425
15-May-17 27 38,129 36,086 15,869 9,585 5,651 3,018 1,549
16-May-17 28 39,747 35,219 14,184 8,157 4,652 2,476 1,265
17-May-17 29 38,976 33,591 14,239 8,237 4,806 2,539 1,311
18-May-17 30 42,797 33,920 14,307 8,146 4,613 2,408 1,215
09-May-17 31 40,851 34,174 14,226 7,923 4,380 2,256 1,210
20-May-17 32 39,217 31,316 12,601 6,421 3,023 1,125 462
21-May-17 33 90,226 67,240 25,356 14,060 6,827 2,628 1,099
22-May-17 34 246,487 206,659 88,956 47,906 21,204 7,689 3,488
Total 993,321 921,339 412,899 234,416 128,455 67,121 30,544