We've created all the May 2026 elections in our system. 4,357 English councillors are scheduled for election, across 107 councils. This is in addition to six local authority mayors and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments. Find out if you have an election at whocanivotefor.co.uk

📢 Do you care about the future of democracy in the UK and want a new challenge in 2026? We’re looking for someone with relevant expertise in UK democracy and accountability to join our Power and Accountability committee to help advise on our grant‑making. [1/3]

More than 300 prospective candidates have been selected for both the Senedd Cymru and Scottish Parliament elections on 7 May. Voters can view their candidates and new constituency at whocanivotefor.co.uk

🎄 It's the most wonderful time of the year: when politicians send their constituents Christmas cards featuring the holiday bin dates. 🎁 If you've received such a card, snap a photo or take a scan and upload it to electionleaflets.org 🎅 Spread the cheer!

The Electoral Commission has published a report on automatic voter registration pilots in three Welsh council areas; overall these seem to have been a success. 14,576 new electors were registered, with very high accuracy and very low opt-out rates. www.electoralcommission.org.uk/research-rep...

We're hiring an Elections Assistant for next year's UK devolved and local elections. This is a non-technical, entry-level role which would suit anyone with an interest in the UK electoral system and a good eye for detail. Applications close 1 December. jobs.gohire.io/democracy-cl...

Super exciting #job at the Electoral Commission, as product manger for their new digital strategy. Great to see @democracyclub.org.uk clearly mentioned in the JD, reflecting the work they did to get it this far.

Voters in Caerphilly will go to the polls tomorrow to elect a new Member of the Senedd. This will likely be both the final by-election ever held to the Senedd, and the last time first-past-the-post is used in a Senedd election, as next year's reforms abolish both of these mechanisms.

Help us shape the Welsh election information platform. By taking part in this study, you'll help us test early ideas for how the site could be organised and what content should be included. 👇 dbcc-tree-test.netlify.app Learn more about the Platform 👇 dbcc.gov.wales/electoral-ma...

🧮 More than 200 by-elections happen in the UK each year. But why? We've begun tracking the reason for each vacancy, and will display this on our site to help voters understand why they are heading to the polling station. democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/10...

🪑 Democracy Club is seeking a new Chair for our board of non-executive directors. 🫵 Do you have chairing experience? Good knowledge of UK politics, civic technology, and/or digital service delivery? You could be the person we’re looking for! Take a look👇 docs.google.com/document/d/e...

New stuff on TheyWorkForYou ahoy! Join us at lunchtime on Thursday, October 23, when our own @alexparsons.bsky.social and @juliacushion.bsky.social will be talking through what's new. For full details and to book your free spot: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theyworkfo...

📧Stay up to date with Democracy Club's work by subscribing to our mailing list. One email a month; no more, sometimes less. mailinglist.democracyclub.org.uk/subscription...

🪑 Democracy Club is seeking a new Chair for our board of non-executive directors. 🫵 Do you have chairing experience? Good knowledge of UK politics, civic technology, and/or digital service delivery? You could be the person we’re looking for! Take a look👇 docs.google.com/document/d/e...

Our volunteers have identified 303 candidates for the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections and 113 for the Senedd/Welsh Parliament elections. Voters can see who has been announced in their area at whocanivotefor.co.uk

Nice piece here using our data as a jumping off point for a discussion on election candidate contact details.

🏵️ Are you thinking of founding a new political party? This blog from 2023 explains how the UK party register was founded, how it is managed, and how parties select the names, descriptions and emblems used on ballot papers: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2023/08...

New blog: thoughts on the elections strategy 💾 The UK government's elections strategy could be an opportunity to dramatically change the way election information is collected, aggregated, and published: bringing elections firmly into the digital age. democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/07...

New blog! Political parties won 12.9% of English town and parish council seats in 2024/2025. But party involvement at this level is controversial. We take a look at what the data can tell us about partisanship in England's first tier of local government. democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/07...

During the 2022 local elections we collated this data and found 164 Welsh candidates who had switched allegiance over the previous 12 months. A fun Sankey chart can be found at the bottom of this blog: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2022/04...

Here's what we took away from the Election Strategy www.mysociety.org/2025/07/22/e...

🗳️ The supplementary vote electoral system is returning for Mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners. This is part of the ​government's English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, published yesterday. www.gov.uk/government/p...

We’ve published our report on the 2025 England local elections. 🗳️ Overall, the elections went smoothly, with no major problems. Most people who voted felt confident the elections went well. But some challenges remained:

🗳️ July is a busy month for council by-elections. 35 are scheduled, include two happening today in North Tyneside. You can find the full list of upcoming elections on the front of WhoCanIVoteFor. whocanivotefor.co.uk

The government has announced its intention to abolish directly elected council mayors in England. While the 13 existing mayors will remain, no new ones will be created. Full statement: questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...

⚓ Plymouth is holding a governance referendum on 17 July, to decide whether or not to have a directly elected mayor. The petition for a referendum was signed by 10,856 residents. www.plymouth.gov.uk/referendum-h...

🧑‍💻 The Electoral Commission are hiring a new Head of Digital Communications. The job's perks include working with us! View the details here: ce1002li.webitrent.com/ce1002li_web...

We've updated our report with the results of the 1 May town and parish council elections. Polls were held in 354 (18%) wards. The results of the polls were: Independents: 847 seats Lib Dem: 205 Con: 154 Lab: 139 Reform: 59 Green: 51 Others: 57 democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/04...

🔐 Polls have closed! 📫 We have processed almost 5 million postcode searches from the UK public in the last month. Election day: 742,680 This week: 1,587,973 Since 1 April: 4,910,497 🌟 Enormous thanks to the electoral administrators and volunteers who have made this possible. 🌟

It’s polling day! 10,000 polling places are open across England for council and mayoral elections. Find out if you have an election, and get your candidate and polling station details: whocanivotefor.co.uk

New research: the 2025 parish council elections. 1,274 local councils are up for election this year: three cities, 133 towns, and 1,138 parishes. 11,863 seats are up for grabs, but only 10,205 candidates have been nominated. Get the details and the data: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/04...

📅 One week to go until the 1 May English local elections! 📝 Councillors in 24 councils will be elected, alongside six mayors and an MP. 👀 Check if you have an election, view your candidates, and find your polling station: whocanivotefor.co.uk #england #localelections

📜 Help us archive the 2025 English local elections! 📮 Received an election leaflet in the post? Snap a photo or take a scan and upload it to electionleaflets.org #LE2025

The Electoral Commission have just published their five-year corporate plan. In it they have announced a plan to take our polling station finder in-house between now and the next general election. More on our blog: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/04...

🧮 8,619 candidates are standing in the 1 May English local elections, for 1,749 seats. Seats contested by parties: Reform UK - 97.4% Conservative - 96.4% Labour - 93.3% Lib Dems - 84.2% Greens - 71.9% Get the data: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/04...

📰 1 May Combined Authority Mayoral elections. 🗳️ Five candidates have been confirmed for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough: whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/ma... 🗳️ Six candidates have been confirmed for Hull and East Yorkshire: whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/ma...

🗳️ 15 Candidates confirmed for the Runcorn and Helsby parliamentary by-election. Full list here: whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/pa...

The deadline to stand for election in the 1 May English council elections closes at 4pm today, when councils will begin publishing their 'statement of persons nominated', which contains the official lists. We'll be collecting them all in our database: candidates.democracyclub.org.uk

This year's English local elections will be the smallest since 1975, following postponements in nine areas. 1,657 councillors are due to be elected across 23 councils. Six mayors will also be elected. More detail in our latest blog: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/03...

Today, we’ve published figures showing the money spent and donations received by candidates at the 2024 general election. Explore the data here: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/political-re...

📰 Ed Davey's Sudoku, a Green Party scratchcard, and Ross Kemp on a Labour DVD: we've relaunched our database of election literature, ElectionLeaflets.org. democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/03...

10 years ago, on a Saturday morning, I sat down to write the first code for a UK polling station finder. It's still going today, and it's served tens of millions of people. Here's to another 10 years! @democracyclub.org.uk democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/02...

Are you a candidate, agent, or campaigner preparing for the 1 May English local elections? WhoCanIVoteFor.co.uk offers every candidate a free profile to put their case to the electorate. The site was used by millions of people in 2024. Learn more: whocanivotefor.co.uk/standing/ #LE2025

“Elections are often delivered in spite of, rather than because of, the fragmented and outdated legislative framework.” The Association of Electoral Administrators has published its New Blueprint for a Modern Electoral Landscape. Read it here: www.aea-elections.co.uk/blueprint2025/

Legislation postponing elections in nine English councils for a year, from 2025 to 2026, has been published. www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/13... It is accompanied by an explanatory memorandum: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/13...

🏂 We're excited to announce that @maltbyps.bsky.social and @jonathanflowers.bsky.social have joined the Democracy Club board. Between them they bring vast experience in UK government and digital services. Learn more about Paul and Jonathan from our blog: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/02...

Local elections in nine councils are to be postponed for a year to allow for reorganisation. This is equivalent to 26.6% of the councillors scheduled to be elected on 1 May. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Internet, I need your help! Back in 2010 The Labour Party sent a DVD(!) as an election leaflet featuring Ross Kemp (Hear him talk about what's at stake on Thursday). This is clearly amazing, and I want a physical copy. Can anyone help?! electionleaflets.org/leaflets/5484/ @democracyclub.org.uk

New blog! The 2024 English Parish council election results. democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2025/01... Late last year, we partnered with the National Association of Local Councils to collect electoral data on the May local council elections. We've a full breakdown in our latest blog 👇