Goats for Votes: a UCL initiative to encourage students to vote
Photography by Ferdouse Akhter
Elly Chaw reports on ‘Goats for Votes’, an event aimed at encouraging UCL students to register to vote in the upcoming UK general election.
The deadline to register to vote in the general election happening in less than three weeks is 11:59pm on Tuesday 26th November. To encourage more students to register before the deadline, UCL Student Support and Wellbeing alongside the Students’ Union Engagement Team brought two goats, Heather and Juniper, from Spitalfields City Farm to main campus on 21st November.
This original goat-petting initiative was piloted and carried out in the lead-up to the 2017 General Election. The event was very popular with the student and staff body. Molly Hartill, who currently works as the Community Relations Officer at the Students’ Union, told Pi News: “This is a uniquely-UCL event, and helps spread the awareness about the importance of registering and voting. It is easy for one to think that there is no point in voting. We have to remember this: by not voting, we are giving other generations the voting power for our future.”
Photography by Ferdouse Akhter
Hartill also commented that there has been a surge of 1.5 million young voter registrations just this week, most likely because of the various campaigns surrounding Brexit. She stressed the power young people have over the future of the country through their votes.
The goats were scheduled to arrive at the Japanese Garden at 12pm but due to unforeseen transport issues, they arrived just past 12.30pm to many curious yet excited students. While the goats’ arrival at their designated grass patch was marked by several amusing incidents, they finally proved to be popular with students and their cameras.
Photography by Ferdouse Akhter
Natasha Tahir and Aly Nour, both undergraduate students at UCL, were amongst the students who arrived early in eager anticipation of the goats. When Pi News asked about their views on the initiative, Tahir responded: “It is a great incentive to get a conversation going about serious topics such as the General Election, as it is a light-hearted event that sparks conversations and certainly brings about greater attention to the cause.” On the other hand, Nour replied that he cannot vote as an international student, but he likes goats.
Photography by Ferdouse Akhter
Several representatives from UCL and the Students’ Union were also present to answer queries about the registration process, and to encourage people to turn up to the London Students Assembly scheduled for the next day at Logan Hall. The London Students Assembly is a panel discussion with political representatives from several parties and youth advocacy groups, thereby providing a platform for youth political engagement.
Students from Commonwealth Nations (who have leave to enter or remain in the UK) are also eligible to vote. Some of the qualifying Commonwealth countries include: Bangladesh, Canada, Kenya, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Australia, India, Malaysia, Nigeria and South Africa.
Registration to vote in the UK can be found here.