They bear some of society’s heaviest burdens, yet the Island’s youngest voters are more likely not to participate in elections than other groups.Figures provided by the Parliamentary Registrar, Randy Scott, show that 35 percent of those qualified to vote who did not register by last week’s deadline are between the ages of 18 and 29 — a total of 1,018.The same cohort represents 15.2 percent of registered voters. According to the latest census, which was taken in May 2010, the number of Bermudians between the ages of 16 and 30 represented 21 percent of those above the age of 16, all of whom would be of voting age now.Mr Scott acknowledged the difficulties in getting younger voters to participate but said it appeared to be a universal phenomenon.The Island’s youngest voters could end up bearing the brunt of the national debt, carry the burden of taking care of a growing population of senior citizens, and are more directly impacted by gang violence than other age groups.They are also over-represented in the unemployment data — the latest Labour Survey released by the Department of Statistics show that 36 percent of the unemployed are between the ages of 16 and 24.So why are they also far more likely than others to remove themselves from the electoral process?“Basically you can put a gorilla in charge of the country and the economy will get along quite nicely,” said Bermuda College lecturer Craig Simmons.Young voters know intuitively that there is little correspondence between who runs the country and the state of the economy, he said.Bermuda’s politics is dominated by old people so a generational divide could also be to blame, Mr Simmons added.“The average age of a Government Cabinet Minister is, what, 60?” he asked.“We have an old Government and young people don’t do what old people do.”Mr Simmons attempted to recruit some of his students to participate in a roundtable discussion about politics with this newspaper, but only one student volunteered.Nandi Davis, 25 year old candidate for the One Bermuda Alliance, said that young voters “have lost faith” but she expects that they will participate in greater numbers in future elections.“Too many young people see little relevance between their day to day experience and the realm of politics presented by the media,” said ruling party candidate Walton Brown. “They see political parties going back and forth on issues and see it primarily as an opportunity for a party to gain electoral advantage — particularly now.“What they do not see — and political parties hold some responsibility for this — are the differing visions about how Bermuda should be governed and who should benefit from policies and legislation.“They have grown weary of the banter and dismiss politics as something which does not affect them.”He added: “Part of the task of politicians and those who care deeply about our future is to find ways to engage young people and get them to understand that they do not simply have a voice, they also have the power of the vote to help shape the kind of Bermuda they want to see. Dismissing the arena of politics altogether voids their ability to improve their country on this level.”To be sure, Bermuda’s level of registration overall is a strong 94 percent — it is after all required by law. But if past elections are a reliable predictor, voter turnout is likely to be around 77 percent of those registered and the youth turnout could be even more muted.A MindMaps survey in September showed that only 35 percent of 18 to 34 year olds reported that they were “absolutely certain” to vote in the coming election, compared to 50 percent overall. Their likelihood of voting increased to 67 percent when those who were “very likely” to vote was factored in, but that figure was still significantly below the overall figure of 79 percent.Independent candidate Kim Swan said the data is “especially disappointing” because the young are among society’s most vulnerable.He suggested that the Parliamentary Registrar preregister people at 16 when they are still in local schools and transfer them on to the register proper when they turn 18.“Such an initiative can be enhanced by enlisting youth parliamentarians as scrutineers,” Mr Swan said.“We do make efforts to get that captive audience at the annual regiment camp registered but it is not always successful as we anticipated,” Mr Scott said.“We also have had several successful ‘Voter Awareness months’ since 2009. All our efforts have been to encourage voter participation and this can be seen in the work we have done over the years. So far we are pleased with the numbers.”A ruling party spokesperson said they were encouraged by the fact that 94 percent of eligible voters had registered.“We encourage all Bermudians — especially our young people — to register to vote going forward so that they can participate in the next general election as well as by-elections and referendums,” he said.“We are confident that those young Bermudians that did register will stand strong with us because we've stood strong for them with job training programmes and a dramatic increase in university scholarships. And, we have a vision to create jobs for our young people that includes Job Corps Bermuda and the One Stop Career Centre."Ms Davis also claims that the young voters are in the OBA’s corner. “Young people are actually on board with the OBA and becoming more in tune with what’s happening in Bermuda. And next election we will see more of those numbers going up because people are concerned with their future.”Independent candidate Johnny Starling echoed Mr Brown’s view that political parties have failed to find ways to engage the youth. And he believes that the data highlights a disconnect between young people and the political system.Enhancing education on civic responsibilities and involving students in decision-making at their schools could help, Mr Starling said.The fact that many young people are overseas students when they become of voting age and too often find themselves unable to come home to vote may also end up alienating them from the process, he added.“The youth clearly feel disengaged by the current political situation,” Mr Starling continued.“This may be due to the very nature of the political discourse, which can be quite demoralising, and the youth may be dismayed and put off by this.”An additional factor is stereotyping of young people as “irresponsible and troublemakers”.“If you treat the youth as irresponsible and troublemakers, this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.“Similarly, if we treat them with respect, as responsible and involved citizens, I think they would surprise a lot of people and — as the Youth Parliament frequently shows — can be some of the most articulate and intelligent contributors to our political discourse.”Mr Starling said he also found that some young people choose not to participate because they are unsure of the issues.“So in a way that actually speaks — at least to me — to the maturity of many of the youth, of their sense of responsibility concerning the vote. And it also speaks to the need for the various political parties and candidates to sit back and reflect at how they're trying to engage the youth, how they're conveying their messages.”Bermuda could also consider lowering the voting age to 16, as is being contemplated by other jurisdictions.“By lowering the voting age we could do a number of things. We could tie in active participation in the political process with the lessons learned in civics classes.“We could make the youth vote something that would be more actively courted, and politicians would be more focused on dealing with youth issues, and start speaking with the youth rather than to them.“It would show that we respect and trust them, that we believe they are responsible, and this could lead to increased participation in the political process in the future too.”Mr Starling said the cost of not engaging the youth in political affairs is that the country will end up “sleepwalking away from democracy”.“We need to reverse that trend, and move to a more participatory democracy. And part of that, I genuinely believe, needs to move away from the politics of division which the two-party system we have now encourages.”The Royal Gazette wants to talk to a group of first time voters about their political participation and youth attitudes to politics. Please e-mail ajohnson@royalgazette.bm if you qualified to vote after the general election of 2007 and would like to participate.