sharing best practice for council election results – helen williams
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Lessons fromSurvey of Elections May 2010
Helen Williams
Better connected
reviewer
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Overview of Survey of Elections
Four main elements to the research:-• Analysis of traffic to council websites:
Website Take-up Service (WTS)• Survey of WTS sites holding elections – in
four rounds• Local perspective on General Election –
finding your constituency and other basics• Open Election Data Project
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Traffic to council websites
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Round 1: Registration deadline
• 34 councils (81%) had a prominent link to election information on the home page, but a few notable exceptions had either only a small link or no reference at all.
• Missed opportunities to publicise registration deadline on home page
• Poor linking of news items to related information• Out of date information• What happened to Stoke-on-Trent?
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Round 2: Candidates and encouragement to vote
• Candidate information in statutory notices in PDF
• Candidates listed by ward, but no link to ward look-up facility
• Only 14/42 allowed you to look up polling station
• 83% had reasonably prominent election link on home page
• Two standalone election sites score well: Newham and Camden
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Round 3: Results day
• Communication of results was patchy• Most sites using simple tables, few
election graphics this time• Presentation sometimes lacked clarity• Under half of councils provided full data
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Social media: Twitter and Facebook
• Initially most councils missed opportunity to use Twitter / Facebook to highlight elections
• Solihull, Coventry and Preston – good• Results day – councils ‘upped their game’ -
17 provided results service via Twitter• Updates on Twitter more frequent and
timely than on the website
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Local perspective: finding constituency, ward, candidates
• Relatively easy to find information on national news media sites
• Very difficult on official sources such as Directgov, The Electoral Commission, and local government websites
• About My Vote ‘Where can I get info about candidates?’ The answer says:
• There is no official source, so you should visit candidate websites, party websites, or write to the party.
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Open Election Data Project
http://openelectiondata.org/
• Chris Taggart of OpenlyLocal.com and supported by Socitm and LGA.
• Aims to encourage councils to publish election results as ‘linked open data’
• Would enable national public database of local election results
• Demonstrate commitment to transparency and openness
• 22 councils published their results as open data
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Website Take-up Service June 9
Lessons from analysis
• Ensure that all election deadlines are communicated well in advance, and feature prominently on the home page at the right times
• Ensure that all the relevant information is clearly signposted – and updated at each stage
• Ensure that candidate details are clear and easily accessible – not just a statutory notice in ‘pdf’
• Provide all relevant results data clearly: including turnout figures and spoilt ballot papers – Open Election Data Project
• Post regular reminders as deadlines approach on your social media channels, linking directly to relevant forms and information on the website
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Lessons fromSurvey of Elections May 2010
Helen Williams
Better connected reviewer
Thank you for your time