Vote boosters!

The searing cold sun shone on the big red vote boosting bus today as we rolled onto Sussex University campus, Brighton.

We weren’t sure what to expect from the student body at Sussex, as their university has become a hotbed of protest and mass occupation during the past few years. This is how our day went.

Student union president Abraham Baldry, who has been working hard to encourage his members to sign up to vote, was on hand to welcome us.

“We’ve been doing all we can to encourage voter registration on campus, including  a hustings event tonight with all candidates running for Brighton Pavilion, so it’s great to have the NoVoteNoVoice bus here to help us,” he said.

What followed over the next few hours was a stream of students, all of whom we spoke to coming to the first general election they could vote at, many shocked to find out they may have fallen off the electoral register because of the switch to individual registration.

First year student Michael hadn’t realised he needed to register to vote, so was glad to do so as he’s becoming much more interested in politics as the general election approaches. He reckons a lot of his fellow students are feeling the same way.

Minutes after Michael, Lucy and Eva arrived, they’d already signed up to vote this week, only because they’d heard a rumour they’d be fined if they didn’t!

Perry from London stepped aboard the bus to tell us he’d always been interested in politics and was looking forward to finally getting his say over who runs the country.

If the mood today was anything to go by, Sussex University students will be voting in swaths come May.

Next, the bus heads to Southampton — more from the road tomorrow.