Democracy Club Ballotin: December

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Welcome to the November 2023 edition of Democracy Club’s regular newsletter. All past emails are accessible in an online archive. 

Prospective Parliamentary Candidates

We’re excited to announce the launch of our prospective parliamentary candidate tracker ahead of the next general election. The political parties are selecting candidates for each constituency. Our volunteers have been tracking these selections as they are announced, to ensure that we can offer voters the maximum amount of information as soon as we know the date.

We’ve already identified over a thousand individuals, including more than 200 candidates each for the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK. Take a look at the list yourself, and do let us know if you think we’ve missed anyone!

View the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate list on WhoCanIVoteFor.

Featured blog posts

Democracy Club makes its impact by helping others to work better, and we’re taking some time to highlight key partnerships on our blog. 

Case Study: Electoral Commission

Our data services have enabled the Electoral Commission to reach hundreds of thousands of voters with accurate pre-election information.

Case Study: Welsh Government

The Welsh Government uses our voter information websites to reach voters with information about electoral reforms.

2024 local elections

On 2 May next year everywhere in England and Wales will have something to vote for: 

We’ve now created most of these elections in our system, and you can use WhoCanIVoteFor to find out what you’ll be able to vote for next year. However, we still have some work to do to incorporate…

…boundary reviews

Due to population growth and movement, electoral boundaries are subject to regular review and change. Boundary data is at the core of our services, so we need to keep the information we hold as accurate as possible. 

You’ve probably seen the news about recent House of Commons boundary changes. Earlier this week the law to enact these redrawn constituencies was passed, and they will come into force at the next general election. You can find out how they might affect your constituency on the House of Commons Library website.

But House of Commons boundaries aren't the only ones which are regularly reviewed. In England there is a constant rolling programme of changes to council boundaries (‘Electoral Change Orders’), and every year some councils hold elections with a new set of divisions. You can find out more about this process on the LGBCE website. Next year 21 English councils are holding elections on new boundaries.

More devolution

In other election legislation news, there will be three new Combined Authorities electing mayors in May 2024: East Midlands, North East England, and York and North Yorkshire. We’ll be adding these to our system over the coming weeks. 

On top of these, the Chancellor's autumn statement announced more devolution deals, including mayors for Norfolk, Suffolk, East Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire. The last three are expected to hold elections in 2025. Norfolk’s election is proposed for 2024, but this may be delayed. None of these are done deals, however, and implementation may differ from these initial proposals.

Elections to watch

There is an ongoing recall petition in Wellingborough, which closes on 19 December. We don’t cover these on our websites, but details are available in our API. Visit the Electoral Commission website to find out more about recall petitions and read their report on the last time a petition was held, in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.

You can find a full list of all upcoming council by-elections on the front page of WhoCanIVoteFor.co.uk. Our amazing volunteers are constantly collecting information on these candidates. Check out our candidate database if you’re interested in lending a hand.

All the best, The Democracy Club Team