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Hello,
We hope you’re keeping well.
Following the cancellation of the May local elections (which were due to happen this coming Thursday), Democracy Club is heading for a pause of some months before we start preparing for the elections in 2021.
Our team is also changing, with Joe and Chris moving on to pastures new. You can read more about these developments in our blog of 2 April.
In the meantime, we’ve been working on some research into how our services have been used over the last year. Last week we published a piece on international users of our services, and in a couple of weeks we hope to produce some analysis on our postcode search data.
General Election Report
Most importantly, we’re pleased to announce that we have just published our report into the 2019 general election.
The December election completed our busiest ever year; in terms of data collected, user numbers, and partnerships, it was by far and away our most successful election. During the election campaign, Democracy Club:
- Processed four million postcode searches.
- Employed six extra (temporary) members of staff.
- Achieved 73% polling station finder coverage for population of England/Wales/Scotland.
- Crowdsourced all parliamentary candidates within 24 hours of close of nominations.
- Achieved some major new data partnerships, notably The Guardian, The Times and Sky News.
- Saw links to our websites shared online by major organisations of state, including the Electoral Commission and UK Parliament.
- Successfully developed and deployed a combined polling stations and candidates widget in time for the general election. Added Welsh language capability to both widgets.
- Gained over 1,300 new contributors to our candidates database.
Get the full details in our (illustrated!) report. Many, many thanks to everyone who lent a hand to help us during the election, and throughout 2019. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Looking Forward
Although things will be quieter at Democracy Club for a bit, we’re not going anywhere. The 2021 elections will be some of the largest ever held in the UK, and we are already starting to think about how we’re going to cover them. Look out for our call to action later in the year.
In the meantime, please feel free to drop into our friendly Slack group and say hello anytime!
Best wishes, stay safe,
Democracy Club
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