Today is local election day for over 4,300 council seats across England. If you haven’t already decided (or had decided for you?) where you plan to put your X, then there are online tools to help.
Council elections are typically low turnout affairs, which means your vote likely has more sway than in a general election. Conversely, there’s usually very little campaign literature, meaning precious little opportunity to find out who’s standing and what they actually stand for.
Fortunately, the internet cares, even if national parties don’t. Here are some tools to help you decide how to vote in 2018.
Who should I vote for?
In council elections, you pick up to three candidates. You can find out information on who is standing in your area by visiting Who Can I Vote For?
Just enter your postcode, and all the candidates will pop up with information sourced about individual candidates – helpful if you want to split your vote between parties, but don’t know which figure to back from each.
What does my current council look like?
That’s handy and all, but what if you want to vote based on the job your current representatives are doing? You want to send a message for poor performance, or reward a well-run area?
That’s where Democratic Dashboard comes in handy. Once again, visit the site, enter your postcode and you’ll see the current makeup of your council, letting you vote for change or more of the same.
The site seems to be under a lot of strain today, so you may need to give it a few goes.
Where do I vote?
Misplaced your polling card? No problem. You don’t actually need the card sent in the mail to vote – you just need your name, address and to turn up at the right place. Where is the right place? The functionally named Where Do I Vote website has that answer for you.
I don’t actually live in Kensington or Barnet. Screengrabs are from a random London postcode generator and Democratic Dashboard.
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