Ready to Vote?

Representative Democracy
This is when a person is elected to take decisions on behalf of the
people.

In Northern Ireland, we have three types of people we can vote for:

MP MLA Local
V MemberV of the V
Member of
Parliament
Legislative Councillor
Assembly
Who’s Who: UK Parliament

Find out who your MP is by visiting the UK Pa

rliament website.
Who’s Who: Northern Ireland
Assembly

Find out who your MLAs are by visiting the NI

Assembly Education Website.
Who’s Who: Local Council

Find out who your local

councillors are here:
https://www.gov.uk/find
-your-local-councillors
Levels of Government

Why not find out about the

roles and responsibilities of
your elected representatives?

Link to game – temp image

added here – to be updated
How do they get their jobs?
The people elect all these representatives to make decisions for them.

DEMOCRACY

Demos = people Kratia = power

In a democracy there must be regular elections.

You must register in order to vote for them.
Registering to vote
• The electoral register is sometimes called the electoral roll.
• It is a list of everyone in Northern Ireland who is registered to vote.
• It takes about 5 minutes to apply and you can do it online even before
you turn 18 (usually at 17).
• Checkout this website https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote so you’ll
know what to do when the time comes!

More information on elections in Northern Ireland is available at:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/elections
Advantages of being on the electoral
register
• You only need to register once then you can vote in
all elections.
• You get to have your say on issues you care about.
• It’s good for your credit rating, which is important if
you want to get a phone contract or borrow money.
• You can get a free photo ID card.
Vote or no vote?

Most people over 18 can

vote but you must be on the
electoral register.

You can discover more about

who can and can’t vote by
playing the Vote or No Vote
game.
How can you be
an active citizen if
you can’t vote yet?
 Your local community Local services and businesses Language and culture
?
The traffic on your streets Funding for schools and hospitals

?
LGBTQ+ rights Exams and qualifications
Do you care
about any of
Animal welfare ? these issues? Getting a job ?

Affording college or university Your rights and responsibilities

?

Local parks and leisure centres Climate change Fair wages Mental health
What can you do
about these
issues?
What can you do about these issues?
• Talk to your school council representative.
• Get involved in the Northern Ireland Youth Assembly.
• Contact your elected representative.
• Start a petition or online campaign.
• Get involved in local community groups or pressure groups.
• Join a youth organisation.
• Take part in a protest.
• Join a political party.
• Stand for election yourself in school or community groups.
• Register to vote as soon as you can and encourage friends
and family to do the same.
Being an active citizen
These young people have
something in common.

They are all active citizens.

Find out more about them

(and many others like them)
by completing the Active
Citizen challenge.