You Vote EU: Increasing Voter Turnout by Connecting Citizens to EU Policy

Last week ECAS hosted the launch of You Vote EU, a project aimed at stimulating citizens political participation in the 2019 European Parliament elections by increasing understanding of current and future EU policies.

You Vote EU is coordinated by Italian organisation Riparte il Futuro, in partnership with VoteWatch Europe (Belgium), Vouliwatch (Greece) and Collegium Civitas (Poland).

The project was triggered with a view to tackle low turnout levels of participation, such as those seen in the previous 2014 European Parliament elections. In addition, more than half the voters did not vote for reasons linked to the EU. Other issues which were identified include: low participation especially among young people, and lack of interest in EU policy.

A web platform to provide information and  stimulate motivation among EU citizens.

To tackle low participation, the project partners will create an innovative web platform to inform voters on EU policies and connect voters with their current representatives, new candidates or other voters. The platform will include citizens’ opinions on the European Parliament political and legislative process, profiles of MEPs and it will encourage debates, discussions and information on different EU topics.

The user-friendly and interactive nature of the platform will allow citizens to not only have all necessary information about all candidates, but also find out which MEP best represents their views.

Find more information about the project here here.