Sun launches 'Rock the Vote' campaign

Monday, 18 April 2005 12:00 AM

Britain's biggest selling tabloid has launched a new campaign to urge young people to vote.

The Sun's Rock the Vote campaign is based on a similar drive in America which uses pop stars and fashion icons to persuade young people that it is 'cool' to vote.

The 2004 American Rock the Vote campaign signed up a host of celebrities including Justin Timberlake, Joss Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio and Snoop Dog, who appeared on billboards and TV ads urging young people to vote.

It saw 1.4 million young people register to vote via its website.

With the deadline for voting registration now passed, The Sun cannot hope to gain new voter registrations, so the focus will be on encouraging those already registered to vote.

It carries endorsements from Noel Gallagher, Justin Hawkins, Kelly Holmes and Sir Alex Ferguson, who all urge young people to have their say.

Opinion polls suggest that only one in four under 25s are certain to vote in the next election.

The Sun's political editor Trevor Kavanagh compared the high turnouts in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall and in post-Saddam Iraq with Britain where "many will not bother to get off their bums and put a cross on the ballot paper.

"We want to change that and help restore power to the people."

He added: "Voting is a privilege our fore-fathers literally fought and died for. For women it is a hard-won privilege denied to their great-grandmothers only a few decades ago".

All of the main party leaders have backed the campaign, and have urged supporters of all parties to make their opinion known.

Those wishing to support the campaign can send an email to: rockthevote@the-sun.co.uk.

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