Welcome to the September 2024 edition of Democracy Club’s regular newsletter. All past emails are accessible in an online archive.

Annual election report

We’ve published our report on the 2024 local and general elections.

These were our most successful 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. We recieved polling station data from every UK local authority for the first time, and saw 59% of councils promote our tools to their voters. Our amazing volunteers collected the most comprehensive database on general election candidates we’ve ever had, and Who Can I Vote For achieved a user satisfaction rate of 86% in the week of the general election. And that’s just the tip of what we achieved!

What’s next?

We’re already starting to plan for the 2025 local elections, which are scheduled for 1 May (mainly English county councils). Our initial project focus will be on ElectionLeaflets.org, as well as making improvements to the candidates database which were raised during the general election. We’ll also be improving our elected representatives lookup, which we launched last month. Last but not least, we’re working on a data project relating to parish councils with the National Association of Local Councils. More details on all of these in future newsletters!

The big picture

It’s been an extraordinarily busy few months in UK politics. Not only have we had two major elections in quick succession, but electoral law has been tested - and changed - in different ways across the UK. University College London’s Constitution Unit has produced a detailed history of recent developments in its latest Monitor newsletter, which you can read here. We happen to be mentioned in it!

Elections to watch

September will see a bumper crop of local government by-elections, with 39 seats up for grabs across Great Britain. This unusually high number is due in part to councillors resigning after being elected MPs. As always, you can view a full list of all upcoming by-elections by scrolling down the front page of Who Can I Vote For.

All the best,

The Democracy Club Team