Unlock Democracy: Vote Match London notches up 25,000 users

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Wednesday, 23, Apr 2008 12:00

Unlock Democracy's Vote Match quiz - a tool designed to help inform voters about the London elections - received its 25,000th user this morning.

Vote Match has been the internet phenomenon of the London elections and is one of the most used websites Londoners are using to find out more about the candidates.

Commenting, Director of Unlock Democracy Peter Facey said:

"25,000 users is a phenomenal number given the comparatively small marketing budget we have been able to invest into this project. The feedback on the blogosphere has been encouraging, with most users agreeing that the quiz is both easy to use and informative about where the various candidates stand.

"What's more, it is the only hustings taking place anywhere in London where all 10 candidates for Mayor and all 13 parties standing for the London-wide Assembly elections have taken part. This makes it a pretty unique project.

"Vote Match is a proven tool for increasing turnout. Our sister projects in the Netherlands and Germany found that 15% of their users who did not intend to vote went onto do so. The more people we can get using the tool between now and polling day, the more will go on to vote."

Although the statistics gleaned from the Vote Match website are not a representative poll of London opinion, they do reveal some interesting facts. The users of the site consider congestion charge, housing, youth services and poverty to be the top issues. Perhaps surprisingly, one in eight Vote Match users consider the ban on feeding pigeons to be an important issue to them.

The most consensus could be found disagreeing with the statement that "Inter-racial marriage should be strongly discouraged" (BNP policy) agreeing with "Prepay Oyster card users should have unlimited travel on the buses within an hour for a single charge"(Lib Dem and Green policy) and agreeing with "Under 18s who abuse their free travel on buses should have it withdrawn and have to earn it back through community service" (Labour and Conservative policy). By contrast, the most divisive statements are "The London Development Agency should be used to promote ethnic diversity", "Motorcyclists should be allowed to travel on bus lanes" and "Unemployment should be tackled by giving businesses more freedom". See table below for more information.

Peter Facey added:

"What is clear from the survey is that most people agree with elements of all the candidate's manifestos. Vote Match is proving itself to be a popular guide to help voters come to a conclusion on how to vote."

ENDS

Notes:

The figure of 25,004 is accurate as of 11.30am on Wednesday 23 April and is set to increase.