General Election Campaign Monitors Wanted

Charter88 have been asked to find volunteers for a project that will monitor the amount and quality of communication between political parties and the electorate during the General Election. We are looking for people who are willing to spend a small amount of time during the General Election Campaign (no more than two hours in total, spread over four weeks) collecting all the campaign material they receive in the General Election, keeping a log of the amount of personal contact they have had and returning it to us in in a freepost envelope after polling day.

This project is a joint initiative of the New Politics Network, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and Justin Fisher of Brunel University and will look at the amount of campaign literature delivered to an individual’s home and whether they are canvassed in person or by phone. After the election the data will be analysed to see the amount of literature delivered, the language used and how certain issues such as immigration are dealt with.

This will be the first time in the UK that the voters direct contact with candidates and political parties will be monitored. It will help us look at the health of our representative democracy.

If you are interested in participating please let us know either by signing up online (make sure you include your postal address) or by emailing james@new-politics.net with your name, contact details and constituency, and we will send you a pack. We are looking to cover as many constituencies as possible and all those who participate will be sent a report of our findings after the election.

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