Mark Pack

votewise.co.uk is an independent website which lists forthcoming by-elections and candidates. It geto a decent audience, making it well worth using – but not all by-election campaigns make use of it.

The site displays page view figures on the biography pages for each by-election candidate and the numbers (even allowing for being page views rather than absolute unique visitors) are generally impressive, with a candidate’s page typically viewed several hundred times. This traffic is driven from respectable and relevant sources, such as the Electoral Commission and search traffic from people hunting for by-election information.

Given the number of votes it takes to win or lose an election, and the likelihood that a high proportion of those views are from (potential) voters, that’s not a number to be sniffed at.

All candidates are asked to supply such information and when I was working for the party, I kicked off some work to encourage candidates to use the site. But whilst Lib Dems are probably the keenest to use it, by no means all do so.

So if you’re a by-election candidate, or know a by-election candidate, don’t let this opportunity to put information in front of the public go to waste.