Children should be taught about politics at school to encourage them to vote, say young people about to vote.
16 and 17-year-olds were able to vote for the first time in Wales in the Senedd elections in May 2021, although turnout among this age group was low.
Olivia Winter, 17, now teaches young people politics but said she’s only recently learned what democracy means.
The Welsh Government said it had encouraged young people to register.
Ms Winter, from Cardiff, was among a group of young people who ran an event at Coleg Gwent’s campus in Ebbw Vale.
Around 300 pupils aged 16+ from three schools in Blaenau Gwent learned about how democracy works in the UK through a range of group activities.
The event was the brainchild of the Democracy Box, which recruits 16-26 year olds to get people to vote.
The organization is running pop-ups and spreading information on social media around Cardiff and Newport in the run-up to the May 5 elections to reach young voters.
“These kids were passionate about stuff, they really cared, but they literally had no idea how to change it,” Ms. Winter said.
“So that’s today, and I think that’s really working.”
Ms Winter said schools and governments should take more time to educate people like her.
“We are the future, so we have ideas of what we want to change, so having these tools and opportunities to use our voice is really important,” she said.
Although they were given the right to vote for the first time in the Senedd elections last May, figures showed that 50% of this group registered to vote and an estimated 60% of those who did vote.
This age group can also vote in the Scottish General Election, but not for the UK Parliament.
A previous report on Welsh Voices at 16 said work involving young people would need to start earlier.
One of its authors estimated that voting in the age group was up to 10% below the national average.
Students Aimee Flay and Sophie Thomas, both 16, from Abertillery Learning Community School, said they knew nothing about politics and were unaware the election was taking place.
But after attending the workshops, they both felt much more confident.
Ms Flay said young people “know how to explain things to us”.
“It’s much nicer when younger people talk to you,” she added.
Along with students from Tredegar Comprehensive and Brynmawr Foundation School, they received QR codes to connect them to a voter registration website.
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Neither Ms Flay nor Ms Thomas voted in the Senedd general election but said they were looking forward to voting in the local council election.
“I’m really looking forward to learning more because it’s not as complicated as you think,” Ms Flay said.
Turnout in the 2017 local elections in Wales was 42%, while the UK average was 35%, well below the UK general election.
The Welsh Government has been testing new ways to engage voters, including voting before Election Day.
Coleg Gwent’s Ebbw Vale campus will become a flexible polling station, allowing people to vote a week in advance.
It will run alongside early voting stations at a Bridgend school and the Caerphilly and Torfaen community offices.
Katherine Watkins-Hughes, of Blaenau Gwent City Council Elections Department, said events like these had helped explain the powers of the councils.
“I think politics is kind of crowded out in schools,” said Ms Watkins-Hughes.
She said she believes a lack of education among parents is perpetuating the problem.
Jess Blair of the Electoral Reform Society Cymru said civic education in Wales is patchy.
She wanted to see a plan for this in the curriculum and teachers to feel safe teaching it.
The Welsh Government said it had encouraged people to vote.
A spokesperson said: “Our new curriculum for Wales aims to support learners to become ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world.
“Providing quality education in citizenship and politics will be critical to successful implementation.”
The registration window has expired, but if you are already registered you can still apply for either absentee ballots until April 19th or April 26th for proxy voting.
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