An easy way for by-election candidates to communicate with voters

votewise.co.uk [now defunct] – the independent website which lists forthcoming council by-elections and candidates (and which I blogged about here) – has recently started displaying page view figures on the biography pages for each by-election candidate. The numbers (even allowing for being page views rather than absolute unique visitors) are generally impressive, with a candidate’s page being typically viewed several hundred times.

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 – and it therefore makes it all the more sensible for candidates to supply the site with their information. A large part of the reason for the traffic is that people like the Electoral Commission are increasingly pointing the public at this site.

All candidates are asked to supply such information, but by no means all do. I am glad to say that looking at the site, it looks as if Liberal Democrat candidates are the most likely to supply information, although the hit rate is still noticeably short of 100%.

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.