Facebook being used to drive up UK General Election votes

All UK visitors to Facebook on Saturday 10th April are to be asked in they have registered to vote in the forthcoming General Election, to be held on May 6th.

In a deal with the UK’s Electoral Commission, Facebook has been drafted in to encourage anyone who has yet to register to vote at the election to do so, reports the BBC.

Visitors will be asked whether they have already registered to vote.  Those who answer ‘No’ will be routed to an Electoral Commission website which will enable them to enter their details online.

In previous elections, millions of UK citizens eligible to vote failed to register to do so as the list had been closed before the actual election date had been called. 

This time around the registration date has been shifted to only 11 days before the General Election meaning that there is still time to register.

Those Facebook users who have not yet registered to vote will be able to enter their details before downloading and printing off a form which must be signed and returned to the Electoral Commission.

This somewhat clunky offline element of the process is actually a legal requirement to guard against election fraud, but is likely to hinder the success of the Facebook campaign, which is aimed primarily at 18-24 year-old voters who regularly fail to vote.