An Effort to Get Out the Roma Vote, One Citizen at a Time

In October 2014, in a committee meeting about Traveller sites in Windsor and Maidenhead, a local councilor suggested at one point that Gypsies and Travellers should be executed. And in August 2013, in an official government press release from the Department for Communities and Local Government, a senior minister referred to Traveller sites as a “blight” on local communities.

In the UK, Gypsies and Irish Travellers are legally recognized ethnic minority groups distinct from Roma, unlike in the rest of Europe, where Roma is the term used to describe all groups. And with their local representatives talking about them this way, it’s no surprise that Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers hesitate to participate in the political process.

At the Traveller Movement, a national organization campaigning against discrimination and promoting inclusion for Traveller groups in the United Kingdom, we’re combating this skepticism with a cross-community political participation campaign. Led by Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers themselves, our campaign is called Operation Traveller Vote (OTV) and, using the UK general election in May as a catalyst, aims to break the cycle of nonrepresentative and often discriminatory politics that lead to low political participation and mistrust.

The effort is multilayered. We started with the basics, encouraging Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers to register to vote. Now we are working to support these groups to actually exercise that right on Election Day. From Wales to the East of England, from London to the Northwest, OTV has been talking to Gypsies, Travellers, and Roma about the value of political participation. To date, OTV has done outreach at over 30 locations across the UK, helping people register, increasing political awareness, and explaining the critical importance of voting.

On Twitter our #TravellerVote campaign has been a busy conduit, circulating pictures of Gypsies, Travellers, Roma, and their supporters standing proud in support of better political engagement. We have also targeted certain political races themselves, particularly ones where the race is tight and securing the Traveller vote could make the difference between a candidate winning or losing a seat.

Even after the UK general election is behind us, the OTV campaign will continue, shifting focus to ensuring that newly elected members of Parliament better understand these communities and their duty to represent them. There are tangible changes lawmakers can pursue in the areas of accommodation, health, education, employment, and criminal justice; we’ve laid out these changes in the Traveller Movement manifesto [PDF]. We’ve also produced an interactive website called We are community, We are society that features the stories of real Gypsies, Travellers, and Roma, which will be sent to every candidate and new Members of Parliament over the summer of 2015.

Increasing engagement and ensuring that elected officials practice fair and nondiscriminatory treatment of these groups is the only way to ensure sustainable change. We hope that these efforts will end discrimination and disengagement, and inspire more community members to become politicians and community activists.