When the election date was announced for December 12th, questions were raised as to whether the student vote would go missing at it falls when many students are travelling home for Christmas.
In 2017, some seats in the general election appeared to be swung by students, with many having to vote in at their term time constituency as opposed to their home address.
However, this year students are being encouraged to vote where they think their vote could have the most impact, with some websites even encouraging tactical voting, specifically aimed at students including The Guardian who created an interactive system for students to check where their vote would have the most influence.
With over 250,000 Salford residents and an added 20,000 Salford students, could this be enough to influence voting?
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Intrigued by this idea, I decided to investigate the reality for many students and travel back to my home town to vote, as opposed to applying for a postal or proxy vote. As I am currently a student living Salford, I decided to make the quick commute home to Bradford to cast my vote and then return back to University while documenting my journey as a student voter.
Thursday 12th December 2019
I decided the most feasible, and cheapest, way of getting home to vote would be to take an early train from Manchester Victoria, which resulted in me waking up at 5.30 am. Excited and ready to vote, I started making preparations to make my way to the train station.
I’m awake and ready to head back home to Bradford to vote in the #GE2019 – going to be live tweeting & recording my journey as a student voter! @SalfordNow
— Madeline Bateson (@BatesonMadeline) December 12, 2019
As a student, getting up early is not my strongest suit and with my train departing at just after 7am I decided to take a taxi to the station, already eating into my student budget by £5. My taxi driver spoke about the general election, and stated he just ‘wanted to see the best for the younger generation.’ If I could have voted for him, I would have done so on the spot.
Transport method 2✅ Bradford bound, relatively easy journey as of yet. Only spent around £14 so far including train tickets and a cheeky sausage sandwich @SalfordNow #GE2019 pic.twitter.com/1ROUmrOAPA
— Madeline Bateson (@BatesonMadeline) December 12, 2019
Train tickets to Bradford only set me back £9.20, and with my Greggs coffee in hand, I made my way to the platform to begin the hour train ride back home. I am lucky enough to live just over an hour from home, meaning it is cheap and fast for me to vote back home, however according to a Which survey over 40% of UK students live 2 hours away from their family home. This could make it difficult for students to vote without a postal or proxy vote already prearranged.
Arriving in Bradford, I began phase two of my journey and took the bus to my town, where my polling station was situated. Another £5 down, I set off and began contemplating how much money a typical journey home to vote would cost. 25 minutes later I arrived at my destination, polling card in hand.
Vote casted! Make sure you use your voice today and vote! Heading back to @UoSJournalism now to continue with the #GE2019SALFORD coverage @SalfordNow pic.twitter.com/QX88N0Hx22
— Madeline Bateson (@BatesonMadeline) December 12, 2019
3 hours later, £20 spent and a vote cast. It was now time to head back to Salford to see how my fellow students voting had compared. For them, it was quicker and it was cheaper, but voting at home in my first ever General Election was worth the effort.
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