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Grime4Corbyn Want You to Register to Vote (and Party)

The group's offering the chance to attend a secret rave the week before the election if you register to vote.
Lauren O'Neill
London, GB

There is now less than a week left to register to vote in the most important General Election the UK has seen in a very long time. The deadline to register is on Monday 22 May and if you don't meet it, you obviously can't vote on Thursday 8 June. You don't even have the option. You just have to sit back and let a bunch of old pricks decide your future. And you don't want that, especially not when there's an opportunity to bring empathy back into politics with Labour – whose now-properly-out-and-not-leaked manifesto promises stuff like scrapped tuition fees, the return of EMA (an allowance for sixth formers whose parents can't help them out financially), and re-nationalised railways (meaning cheaper train travel).

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A new campaign called Grime4Corbyn agrees, putting their weight behind Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in particular. They agree so much so that if you register to vote, you can sign up via their website to win tickets to a secret grime rave in London due to take place the week before the General Election. This, obviously, is a no brainer: being able to have a hand in your future as well as getting the chance to win tickets to what will probably be an extremely special secret show is a win-win, surely?

When I got in touch, Grime4Corbyn told me that since they launched the site on Monday they'd had "thousands" of sign-ups ("We had no idea it would get so big, and have already upgraded the website bandwidth to accommodate the traffic!"), as well as testimonies from loads of under 25's who have signed up, despite not being involved in politics before. They also gave me the lowdown on why they think it's important that any of us vote at all:

"We think it's important for young people to vote in every election – because they don't vote, it is too easy for politicians to ignore them. This is clearly seen when you think about the decision to take away housing benefit for the under-25s. However, it is even more important that young people vote in this election because all the research has shown that if it were only the under-40s who were voting, Corbyn would win. Corbyn has a long way to go, and we think it's more important than ever that he is elected - someone who truly cares about young people and their futures."

Basically, voting is lit: JME thinks you should do it, and if enough of us turn out, we could effect real change, so you should probably give it a go. As a full disclaimer, Grime4Corbyn have said they "encourage young people to take part in the electoral process by registering to vote. Vote for whoever you want". Register to vote here, enter to win tickets to Grime4Corbyn's party here, and breathe in the sweet air of democratic hope wherever you can.

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(Image via Wikimedia Commons)