Allowing you to vote for the most hated politician, The Pop-Up Poll Booth is a far cry from your conventional village hall polling station. With a more unconventional take on the traditional voting method, the pop-up is a quirky and clever illustration project – and the brainchild of Third year Brighton student Holly Macdonald.
‘I think it’s a lot easier to vote for the person you hate than it is to vote for someone you like.’
Its function, first and foremost as an outlet for people to vent their frustration and generally have a good old bitching sesh about the candidates, but it also has a more serious function – to promote political engagement and dispel the apathetic attitudes associated with voting.
‘For people aged between 16-25 British politics has been defined by scandal after scandal after scandal. We are the generation that was bought up not in economic prosperity, but have spent half our lives in austerity. The British political events this generation will remember are the Iraq War, MP’s expenses scandal and the global financial crisis. It is no wonder that young people or anyone of any age is disengaged with politics and reluctant to vote all together. The distrust for MP’s is particularly strong for this generation.’
‘The recognized and over used statement ‘broken promises’ for this generation has have come to define the tuition fees scandal … In 2010 the younger votes were too idealistic and a little naive in who they trusted. Its easy to get over excited and lose our heads, when a person is well spoken, passionate and tells us what we want to hear.’
‘But this doesn’t mean we should stop voting altogether, on the contrary this sharp lesson means we should be more critical and more careful …. For too long we have allowed politicians to make promises and then not hold them to account during the term in office. It is fundamental to understand that the only person who wins from not turning up to the ballot box is a politician. It’s quite a simple thought the more we turnout, the more important we make politics to our daily lives, the higher the accountability of those in power.’
The polling station itself is both creative and interactive, with workshops running throughout the week, political party games, colouring in and the change to dress up like a politician.
This week holly will transform an empty shop in the Brighton Laines into Brighton’s newest and most certainly unofficial polling station- running from the 5th May to the 10th during the last week of the election – why not head down and check it out.
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