Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ll probably be aware that a referendum is taking place today, asking voters whether they want to change how MPs are elected in General Elections.

Until 10pm, we have the opportunity to provide our answer to the question: "At present, the UK uses the 'first past the post' system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the 'alternative vote' system be used instead'? Yes or no?"

I heard a worrying statistic batted around this morning - that less than 10% of people who are eligible to vote will actually turn out to make their voice heard in the referendum today. A higher, but still surprisingly low 65% turned out for the last General Election. Now I’m no statistician, but this sounds like the majority of the people who actually voted in the last General Election, don’t care enough about how their vote might work in the next General Election to actually do something about it.

 

 

Just the act of voting, whatever you choose, looks like a fairly alternative thing to do in it’s own right. This does nothing to allay my concerns that we’re sleep walking into a culture of passivity. But I do believe we’re seeing some changes in culture, in a positive, active direction. Just look at the recent student protests. You don’t need to look too deeply into our history to see that students have consistently been at the forefront of society shifting movements.

I’m not going to spend this brief blog trying to unpack the minutiae of the alternative vote debate (see this article for a helpful summary), list all the achievements of student history makers or even implore you to get out and vote. I just want to offer an encouragement that if you’re reading this and you’re a student today, make the most of your potential, use the freedom you have in the most opportunity rich time of your life. We’re made in the image of a living, active God (Hebrews 4:12) and we can see what this looks like in Jesus’ life. Take some risks, be alternative, point to a better way, dream big dreams and be one of the few who still dares to be naive enough to believe that they can become a reality.