Democracy Club

Today sees the last council by-elections of 2024, with six seats up in England. Over the course of this year, Democracy Club has provided UK voters with information about: 🗳️ 2,983 ballot papers. 🧍 15,574 candidates. 🏫 65,000 polling places. 📈 Over the year we processed more than 40 million postcode searches from the UK public. WhoCanIVoteFor.co.uk alone received over 18 million visitors. 🤗 Thanks once again to all the electoral administrators, volunteers, and partner organisations who helped make this our most successful year so far. 🎄 Have a good Christmas, we'll be back with some new projects in 2025!

☑️ Earlier this month the Electoral Commission published its report on the 2024 local and general elections. We read it, and learned some things. Six things, in fact. 🤩 Thing number one is that it mentions us! The report’s first recommendation includes: “We will also look at whether the Election Information tool we run with Democracy Club could be used to provide information for voters about the support they can access at their own local polling station.” We experimented with this successfully during the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, and are keen to follow it up for future polls. More on our blog ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/gjaYkQ8z

☑️ Earlier this month the Electoral Commission published its report on the 2024 local and general elections. We read it, and learned some things. Six things, in fact. 🤩 Thing number one is that it mentions us! The report’s first recommendation includes: “We will also look at whether the Election Information tool we run with Democracy Club could be used to provide information for voters about the support they can access at their own local polling station.” We experimented with this successfully during the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, and are keen to follow it up for future polls. More on our blog ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/gjaYkQ8z

🛡 The City of London has a unique franchise, which allows people who work in the square mile to vote alongside its permanent residents. 🏢 Businesses get a quota of votes they can allocate to their workers, and the self-employed and partners can also register. 📜 These electoral registers are known as 'ward lists', and the deadline to register is the end of this month! 🐉 Learn more about this one-of-a-kind council in our latest blog: https://lnkd.in/dpKffwsu

🗒 The UK's statutory election notices could be better. The official list of candidates does not include political party emblems, and often features people who will not appear on the ballot paper. Meanwhile the official declaration of result does not include the total electorate, meaning that data on turnout can be difficult to collect. 🔀 Our latest blog takes a look at these issues and suggests some improvements. ⤵ https://lnkd.in/d55GwPhr

We're still taking applications from people who wish to join our board. If you’re interested in UK elections, tech for public good, digital service delivery, or have a background in accounting, finance or law, please take a look. If you're unsure but want to learn more, please drop us an email and we can set up a chat. https://lnkd.in/gkCq-wm6 #civictech

🛑 Not all elections go to a poll. Some are cancelled for lack of candidates, or are postponed or abandoned for reasons ranging from from to legal errors to national emergencies. 🚧 Since 2018 our database has recorded 2,732 cancelled or postponed elections. In our most recent blog we take a look at why, when and where these cancellations occur. https://lnkd.in/dJxgyanj

🗳 The UK is seeing a bumper crop of local government by-elections at the moment, as many new MPs step down from their roles as councillors. 39 by-elections are scheduled for September (nine today), while October will see more than 40. 💺 20 seats are up for grabs on 10 October, the most on a single day since we started tracking by-elections in 2017. 97 candidates have been nominated. 👀 You can view a full list of by-elections for the coming month on the front page of Who Can I Vote For. https://lnkd.in/g5JBhWK

Democracy Club is on the lookout for new board members. Know someone who’d be a great fit? Spread the word! Find the full details and application instructions here: https://lnkd.in/gkCq-wm6. Applications close 6th October.

These were our most successful pair of elections by every metric. Between 1 April and 4 July we processed 20 million postcode searches from the UK public, setting new records for our local and general election work. Read the full report for much more, including what we're planning next