This is part of a series of articles on the state of the nation ahead of the seismic UK election on May 7. Check out what we demand from the next government, and don't forget to vote. 

You've got less than 24 hours to register to vote. Research by the Electoral Commission suggests that there are some 7.5 million people that haven't done it yet, and the vast majority are people like you.

The biggest falls in registration has been among younger demographics, like university students and teenagers who are eligible to vote for the first time. Hundreds of thousands of young people have fallen off the electoral rolls, thanks to a recent change in voting law aimed at curbing postal ballot fraud.

The head of a household used to be able to register their family, but individuals now have to register themselves. That means that if you were once registered by your parents, you're not anymore. Ditto for any uni students who were signed up to vote by their halls of residences. 

Luckily, it only takes two minutes to sign up to vote because the internet is magic, yo. All you need to do is head to this website to register. You'll need to get your National Insurance number, but that's pretty much all the information you need (unless you have difficulty remembering your birthday or something).

In doing so, you'll be among the 470,000 16 to 24-year-olds who have already registered to vote online in the past five weeks.

We won't guilt trip you about how it's your civic duty to vote and how casting your ballot signifies a new political dawn and blah blah blah. But you can't argue that the situation for young people has worsened steadily since the recession, with less access to jobs and opportunities than ever before.

Voting is one way to show that you won't stand for it – even if it's to ceremonially spoil your ballot to spit in the face of all the major parties. So you know what to do. Sign up to vote here.