UK Election Bulletin, July 1st 2024
Monday 1st July 2024 — Three days to Election Day
The UK General Election is upon us. The UK Democracy Network works to bring you the latest news, gossip, resources and actionable information that can help you and your organisation deliver impact this election. Brought to you by James Moulding and Max Roche of the UK Democracy Network. We read everyone’s newsletters so you don’t have to.
How you can get involved right now! Do these things 👇
- Join the Democracy Network
- Introduce yourself on the Democracy Network WhatsApp Community
- Add your update to the Election Check-In
- Add Key Election Events to your calendar
- Sign up to our upcoming election events
- Access the UK Democracy Map & Resource Hub
- Post to the UK Democracy Forum Mailing List
Key Election Resources
Election Tech Handbook
Crowdsourced resources for technologists building things for the upcoming UK general election, run by Newspeak House.
Election Hackspace
The London College of Political Technology, Newspeak House, has opened its doors from now until the election for all those working across the election. Drop in and co-work from 10am till 7.30pm every day.
Democracy Classroom
Key resources include posters, template emails, a handbook for employers, manifestos and everything you need to engage young people in the election.
Fix The Glitch 3.0 Election Toolkit
The Glitch team created a toolkit and facilitation guide to combat digital misogynoir during election periods as part of their Be Safe Online campaign.
RNIB resource on how to campaign accessibly
The Royal National Institute of Blind People want to make this General Election the most accessible election campaign ever — download their guide to accessible campaign communications now
Regular Election Coordination Meetings
Democracy Network & Democracy Classroom Joint Emergency Election Meetups — Every Monday at 2pm, usually for 30mins — Sign up now or contact Jason at The Politics Project
Democracy Network Campaign Meetings — Weekly meetings for organisations campaigning during the GE — Email Amna Ahmad
National Voter Registration Alliance Special Election Edition Meeting — Email Fope Ajanaku at Operation Black Vote to sign up
Democracy Group Cymru Emergency Election Meetings — Email Jason at The Politics Project
Election Comms Channels
Democracy Network WhatsApp Community — Join here
Democracy Club Slack — Join here
Election Tech WhatsApp Community — Join here
Have we missed anything? Email james@involve.org.uk
Latest election news and updates this week
Labour commits to introducing Automatic Voter Registration
The Guardian has learned that Labour plans to implement Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) should they gain a majority in next week’s poll. While the UK Labour Party’s manifesto mentioned that it will ‘improve voter registration’, until now Labour officials had previously dismissed that this would mean introducing AVR.
This is a significant, collective step forward for the democracy sector — with the changes helping to bring millions of eligible voters onto the electoral roll. Many organisations in the sector have played a role in this, working together, campaigning for and lobbying for these changes.
Join Democracy Network for a post-election Zoom debrief, next Monday 2pm
Join the Democracy Network on Zoom next Monday for a post-election debrief and unpack your work and experiences of the 2024 general election and what the results could mean for your organisation. Register now and join us to pause for a moment of reflection with fellow democracy sector colleagues.
Unlock Democracy call for Independent Debates Commission for TV debates
Unlock Democracy is calling for an Independent Debates Commission, set up under the supervision of Ofcom, to oversee the organisation of national TV debates — something currently organised by party leaders and TV broadcasters, and subject to varying levels of participation. The Electoral Reform Society suggests following the Canadian example, where they have had an independent commission in place since 2018.
Tonight OBV & BEO host hustings event confronting racism head-on #BlackVotesMatter
Operation Black Vote (OBV) and Black Equity Organisation (BEO) host hustings event tonight 6–9pm at the Karibu Education Centre in London as part of a national series of events across the country. Find out more.
Unlock Democracy and New Europeans collect data on overseas voter experiences
Unlock Democracy and New Europeans are collecting data from overseas voters about their experiences of receiving and returning their postal vote. Please forward this link to anyone you know who’s affected by this.
Give An X take on Glastonbury this weekend, launching Give An X Challenge
Dan Lawes, Head of Partnerships at My Life My Say, was at Glastonbury this weekend spreading the #GiveAnX message, calling on everyone to remind three friends to vote this Thursday. They’re also launching the Give An X Challenge later today, challenging people to find unique ways of making their way to the polls together, from Skate Cabal challenging skaters to roll to the polls, to cycling to the polls, to hop-skip-jumping to the polls, follow My Life My Say for more information.
Final pre-election highlights from the Election Tech Handbook team
Newspeak House’s Election Tech Handbook (ETH) project has crowdsourced a directory of more than 300 election technology projects from across the UK active in this election — check it out now. Read their highlights and news of election technology projects in their final pre-election newsletter here.
UpVote engaging employers, launching ‘voter tripling’
Rebecca Baron and the UpVote team are primarily working with brands, musicians, influencers etc to get people to register to vote — and now — to turn up and vote. With voter registration in the back mirror, they’re now turning to ‘Time to Vote’ an initiative similar to that run in the USA, consisting of getting employees to give employees time off to vote on election day. Are you an employer? Email Rebecca for the details.
Their other key initiative is Triple the Vote, again a successful initiative used by organisations around the world, UpVote will launch a new text prompt tool that messages three friends to encourage them to get out and vote. Last but not least, UpVote’s Art To The Polls have made voting-related art available for non-commercial use and available for download, remember to credit the artists when sharing their work!
Demos and Power to Change call for more community power post-election
A new Green Paper published by Demos and Power to Change, Taking Back Control, calls on the incoming government to implement a set of proposals to increase ‘foundational power’ within communities. Demos and Power to Change want a change in how the next government approaches this question — what next after Levelling Up?
The Democracy Network’s campaign coalition kick-off community engagement work
The Put People First campaign aims to connect with community groups across the country to meet people where they are on issues of democracy. Together with The Haringey Community Action Network, Community Organisers, Sortition Foundation and Quakers UK, the Democracy Network kicked off the work in Tottenham this week in a lively discussion on the need to ‘clean-up politics’, ‘include everyone’ and ‘shift power’. The lively session discussed the impact of these issues on people’s lives, priorities for change, and how to support people to get involved in the campaign — check out these vox pop videos from the session!
The sessions aim to build relationships with communities, ensure the language of the Democracy Network’s campaign lands in a way people can relate to, and to build and diversify the membership of the network. Helen Wishart and the DN team will use insights to inform the co-creation of a strategy for community and civil society mobilisation for the Put People First campaign, and also to inform the creation of a new project, Power and Voice. This work is led by Community Organisers, a key partner in The Democracy Network’s Campaign Coalition, and was co-facilitated by Moussa Amine Sylla.
Weaponisation of prejudice as tactic of division in election period must end, say Democracy Network
Helen Wishart, Power & Voice Lead at the UK Democracy Network, argues in their new blog that actions from across the political spectrum during the election period that have targeted people and groups affected by intersecting forms of inequality is dangerous for democracy. Helen highlights ongoing work by members of The Democracy Network to address these issues as a cause for hope, and calls for us to be stubborn in our insistence that people in the UK — and our democracy — are better than our ‘politics’ often makes us look.
Get live updates on how candidates and parties are using digital political ads this election, via Who Targets Me
Who Targets Me run a browser extension app monitoring political ads on websites and social media sites installed on more than 100,000 people’s devices. This affords a huge amount of information and insight into how parties are deploying digital political advertising — install the browser extension, follow Who Targets Me for updates on how the campaigns are using digital ads, or subscribe to their Full Disclosure newsletter for a full and regular lowdown on all things political ad spend.
Kevin Keith argues for open government as way to build trust, in piece for Civil Service World
Open government is a governance model based on the principles of integrity, accountability, transparency and the involvement of citizens, argues Kevin Keith, Chair of the UK Open Government Network, which coordinates civil society input into the UK National Action Plan for Open Government. Read the article on Civil Service World.
Campaign Lab develop tool to fast track petition data entry
A new tool developed by Campaign Lab is about to make campaigners’ lives a lot easier! Instead of manually entering data from physical petition sheets, the Handwritten Petition Scanner allows campaigners to snap a quick photo and have their data ready in seconds.
Byline Times reveal more than 130 Reform UK candidates ignoring election finance rules
136 Reform candidates have raised tens of thousands of pounds on crowdfunding platforms without explaining how they will vet their donors, Byline Times’ Adam Bychawski finds. Only 21 of the 157 Reform candidates made clear that they need additional details from donors on their funding pages, despite the 136 raising over £99k through the sites. Electoral Commission rules require candidates to state on funding pages that they will check donations are from a permissible source. Read the article on Byline Times.
Channel 4 News uncover racism and homophobia within Reform UK’s Clacton campaign
An undercover team working for Channel 4 News has revealed shocking racist and homophobic behaviour by Reform campaigners and canvassers in Clacton-on-Sea. They also witnessed Reform’s campaign manager ‘joking’ about potentially breaching election spending limits. Watch the footage now.
Electoral Reform Society call for guardrails on AI use during election campaigns
An open letter signed by Electoral Reform Society, Demos, Full Fact, Martin Lewis, and others, calls on political parties to agree a set of guidelines and guardrails for how to use AI during the election campaigns. Their demands include: not using generative AI tools to create misleading audio or visual content, clearly labelling where AI has been used to create content, and not amplifying misleading material — find out more.
Democracy Club collate list of former MPs standing for election
With one week to go, Democracy Club has created a list of former MPs standing in the current election. They have also identified 40 manifestos published by parties across the country and included them in their WhoCanIVoteFor tool.
Electoral practice and law — Constitution Unit discuss what’s changed since 2019
A lot has changed in electoral law and practice since the 2019 general election. A new blog from Sanjana Balakrishnan at UCL Constitution Unit outlines all the changes; from Voter ID to oversight of the Electoral Commission. Also, don’t miss their recent article on Labour’s plan for a new Ethics & Integrity Commission.
Record number of women MPs to enter parliament, according to Survation
Survation MRP modelling has mapped projected results on July 4th and concludes that the UK could be on the verge of electing a record number of female MPs (40%) to the House of Commons, meaning the UK would move into the top 30 countries for gender representation. A Labour victory would also see the ‘most gender balanced cabinet in British history’ including the country’s first female chancellor, they state. However, Survation note there is still a long way to go to ensuring parliament is fully representative of the gender composition of the electorate — check Elect Her and 50:50 Parliament for more on that work (more than 98 women from the 50:50 Parliament community alone, are standing for election on Thursday!).
Route Research build new tool to identify whether your constituency has ever had a woman MP
Centenary Action Group highlight the work of audience research body Route Research, who have developed a tool and interactive map uncovering the history of women’s representation in Parliament since universal suffrage was established.
General election coverage dominated by male voices, claims new research by Loughborough University
Academics from Loughborough University’s Centre for Research in Communication and Culture have conducted news audits for every election since 1992. Since campaigning began on 30 May, only seven of the top 20 most prominent figures in election coverage have been women. In the past week, that figure fell to six. Dr Jilly Kay, senior lecturer in communication and media, said: “We’re seeing the continued dominance of men’s voices, which has been an established pattern throughout the campaign.”
Questioning parliamentary candidates on women’s inequality, new guide published
The Women’s Budget Group has published a pre-election guide to help voters understand women’s economic inequality in the UK and their prospective candidates’ plans to tackle it. The briefing provides key stats and info on the economic inequality facing women, alongside some suggested questions which voters can ask to probe parliamentary candidates on this agenda.
Millions in UK unable to vote due to immigration status, say Migrant Democracy Project
In a new piece by Emiliano Mellino of the The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Lucrezia Bosio highlights the millions of people, doctors, civil servants and elected members of local government who have lived in the UK for decades, think of themselves as British, but cannot vote on 4th July due to their immigration status. Migrant Democracy Project are highlighting these stories and campaigning for a change to electoral law — find out more and read the article now.
We’re Right Here have a message for the main parties this election
We’re Right Here launch a new campaign film this election calling on the next government to empower local communities and community leaders, saying that whilst politicians are out pounding the pavements for these few weeks, ‘community leaders are always in touch with their communities — we’re right here, and we’re here to help’. Get in touch about the new campaign and how your organisation can support them.
MP Watch launch new campaign targeting climate denying MPs
The new campaign aims to target the top 10 ten climate denalists in Parliament and highlight the top 10 best climate candidates on the ballot in this Thursday’s election, as judged by a team of panellists at DeSmog, including Baroness Boycott, Prof. Mike Berners-Lee, Brian Eno, Lucy Siegel, Laline Paull and MP Watch citizens.
JustPark offer 30 minutes free parking near polling stations this Thursday
A survey of 2,100 drivers for the firm found that more than a quarter of respondents are planning to drive to cast their vote, with cars being their second preferred mode of transport to the polls, after walking. The parking allocation app company JustPark are planning to offer 30 minutes free parking near polling stations on Thursday. Thanks to Josiah Mortimer at Byline Times for pointing this out!
Make Votes Matter campaigning to get candidates to sign up to backing PR
From Portpatrick to Pimlico Make Votes Matter campaigners have been out knocking on doors, postering and making the case for PR and calling on candidates to take the #PledgeForPR, as Andrew Marr admits he thinks ‘PR or voting reform is going to be one of the really big issues in the next Parliament’ and Labour, Green and Lib Dem candidates come forward to take the pledge. See more over on Make Vote Matter’s X feed.
Tory warnings of impact of Labour supermajority do not add up, say Institute for Government
Whilst the Conservatives have been warning of the dangers of a Labour supermajority, Hannah White at the Institute for Government argues their fears don’t stack up, arguing instead that ‘a government’s attitude to scrutiny is more important than the size of its majority’.
Shout Out UK team up with Ofcom and the Electoral Commission to tackle election misinformation
A new campaign launched by Shout Out UK in collaboration with Ofcom and the Electoral Commission, Dismiss, is boosting awareness of misinformation / disinformation tactics to enable young people make an informed decision on July 4th. The campaign highlights a number of areas voters should be aware of including deep fakes, bot accounts, echo chambers and data manipulation.
Alistair Campbell predicts proportional reform to feature heavily in coming weeks
The Labour Party’s former Director of Communications, Alistair Campbell, remarks that he expects proportional voting reform to jump up the agenda in the coming weeks as a result of the disproportionality of the expected results. Meanwhile, the Labour leader last week defended First Past The Post as ‘the right system’ in a TikTok interview.
Conservative Party on lowest seat total in British electoral history, according to YouGov MRP poll
A new MRP poll from YouGov suggests the Conservatives could be on track for their lowest seat share in their 200 year history. According to their latest model, Sunak could win just 108 seats with Labour winning 425. Britain Elects has their live poll aggregator pegging the Conservative Party at just 96 MPs.
Three quarters of voters think politics needs to improve significantly, poll finds
Polling by the Electoral Reform Society finds three quarters (76%) of the public feel that politics needs to improve significantly, with 48% of respondents saying that politics needs ‘a great deal of improvement’. Conservative voters were the least likely to agree with this statement, but a majority (58%) still thinks an improvement is needed. Only 4% of the 2,226 polled said no improvement is needed.
Poll finds unprecedented appetite for tactical voting to unseat the Conservatives
A new Best for Britain poll of more than 22,000 people finds that at least a third of voters in 558 constituencies are prepared to vote tactically on July 4th to orchestrate a change of government. In 234 seats that number increases to 40%, and in 31 seats more than half are ready to vote for a different candidate to their first choice in order to unseat the current Government.
Beyond the Election
Google is launching a new €15M fund for European democratic resilience
The initiative is aimed at bolstering civil society organisations across Europe, with a focus on election integrity and misinformation, through the use of emerging technologies. Google is looking for high impact proposals leveraging technology in innovative ways, as well as coalitions of organisations working together to leverage solutions.
So, if you’re working on election integrity, disinformation, cybersecurity in the civic space, digital literacy training for voters, civic information platforms or deliberative or decision making tools and systems — check it now.
Reprieve, IPPR, Best for Britain, Republic and more hiring
Reprieve are looking for a new Head of Unlawful Detentions, IPPR are on the hunt for a new Head of Advocacy, Republic for a new Labour-focused supporter officer, and Best for Britain for a new Head of Fundraising, and many more besides — check the Democracy Jobs board for more information.
Stop Funding Hate & Civic Power Fund run new Bad Actors sessions
The series of sessions organised by Stop Funding Hate and Civic Power Fund are focused on Bad Actors in the migration sector. Their first session will be training focused on how to campaign against corporations, sign up here.
Care Full celebrate their first 6 months!
Ruth Hannan and the team at Care Full celebrate their 6 month birthday today since taking the leap to build a new organisation to explore what a new caring economy could look like — go check them out now and give them a follow!
All-Island Better Democracy Network host in-person network day
The Democracy Network’s sister organisation, also hosted by the Involve Foundation, the All-Island Better Democracy Network, is a new initiative made up of organisations from every corner of Ireland working or interested in participation, civic voice, deliberation and citizen-centred democracy. Last week they hosted an in-person network day including co-working, offers and needs and a learning seminar by Nivek Thompson of Real Democracy Now, even finishing off with Democracy Drinks. Join the Network here!
Senedd Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill progresses to Stage 3 next week
The Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill currently working its way through the Senedd would introduce Automatic Voter Registration, make it an offence for a Senedd member or candidate to engage in political lying, improve the diversity of the Senedd and local government democratic structures, create a new requirement for a voter information platform, reform electoral financing, as well as disqualifying town and community councillors from serving in the Senedd. The Bill is currently at Stage 3 with proceedings taking place on Tuesday 2 July — find out more.
Compassion in Politics call on Welsh public to contact their MS to support new law to end deliberate lying by politicians
Compassion in Politics are calling on their supporters and people in Wales to call on their MS and urge them to #endthelies and back Section 46 of the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill and vote against Amendment 6.
Mick Antoniw MS raises fears over Senedd lying ban
Counsel General for Wales, Mick Antoniw, has raised concerns over a lack of parliamentary scrutiny regarding the ‘suddenly bolted on’ changes to the the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill, namely the amendment to make it an offence for a Member of the Senedd to lie in the chamber. The Counsel General argues the changes may have serious unintended consequences if not allowed proper time for scrutiny, highlighting that the Welsh Parliament does not have a revising second chamber to make such changes and offer scrutiny.
mySociety welcome new cohort of trustees
It’s all warm welcomes and fond farewells over at mySociety as they welcome six new trustees onto the mySociety board, find out more information here.
Civic AI Observatory working to better inform civic organisations on their use of generative AI
The Civic AI Observatory, a project delivered by Newspeak House and funded by Nesta, aims to support civic organisations plan and adapt to the rapidly evolving field of generative artificial intelligence. Read the latest issue of their newsletter and join their WhatsApp Community to find out more.
Demos’ Collaborative Democracy Network hosting new discussion with Taiwan’s Audrey Tang
Demos’ next Collaborative Democracy Network event will feature Taiwanese politician and free software programmer Audrey Tang, chief architect of Taiwan’s digital democracy policies, who served as the first Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan from August 2022 to May 2024 — during the session they will explore the intersection of technology and democracy. Register now for the special evening event on 16th July, tickets are likely to sell out fast.
Just Stop Oil activists and employees face raids, house searches and arrest
Police have utilised new clauses within the Public Order Act introduced in 2023 relating to persons interfering with key national infrastructure to raid the homes of more than 27 Just Stop Oil activists and employees, with arrests continuing over the weekend. Just Stop Oil organisers have suggested this is a suspected ‘intelligence gathering’ operation.
ANTIPARTY to launch on election night
There’s elections on, but they’ve got better things to do, they say. Join Isabella Roberts and the ANTIPARTY team for their launch event, featuring musicians, artists, DJs and talks on a range of community-driven projects, including ‘What are citizens’ assemblies?’, ‘How can Blockchain technology support decision-making?’ and ‘What is Participatory Budgeting?’ — Register here.
And now for something completely different
Need something to do whilst waiting for the results to roll in this Thursday?
Jessica Metheringham, Chair at Unlock Democracy, recommends their friend’s new ‘roll and write’ election strategy game — check it out!
Newspeak House General Election Results Party
Kicking off at 9pm, Newspeak House will be hosting a general election results after party in East London — register now.
Thanks for all that you do — that’s all for this week,
UK Democracy Network Team