We've added the results of the 7 May town and parish council elections to our blog. 70.3% of seats were won by independent candidates and 11.1% by candidates representing political parties. 19% of seats remain unfilled. democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2026/04...

📬With the final count concluded, we now have a full dataset of English local election results. All the votes cast for all the candidates - 18.5 million. 👇You can download the data from our candidate database: candidates.democracyclub.org.uk/data/shortcuts

⭐ Greenwich electoral services have published turnout stats for each of their polling districts: www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/sites/defaul... We think all councils should have to do this, and have suggested an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill: bills.parliament.uk/publications...

These figures are unprecedented - more than twice our record for a non-General Election.

🔏 Polls have closed! ⤴️ We have processed over 10 million postcode searches from the UK public in the last month. Election day: 2,648,429 This week: 4,635,003 Since 1 April: 10,564,221 🤩 Enormous thanks to the electoral administrators and volunteers who made this possible.

🐶 Where is the best place in the UK to see #dogsatpollingstations ? 🐕 Possibly Cowal Dog Training Club in Argyll and Bute, which is a polling place today! 🐾 Find your polling station: wheredoivote.co.uk

🗳️ The polls are open! 17,300 polling places are open today across Great Britain. 12,800 in England 2,400 in Scotland 2,100 in Wales Find yours at wheredoivote.co.uk

The Scottish and Welsh parliaments, six English local authority mayors, and 5,056 English and two Welsh councillors are due to be elected tomorrow. Find out who's on your ballot at whocanivotefor.co.uk

"There are over 25,000 candidates competing for just 5,000 seats - giving voters an "unprecedented" level of choice in one of the most hotly-contested local elections in history." Our candidate data underpins this Sky News story by @alicjahagopian.bsky.social . news.sky.com/story/local-...

Six days to go until the local and devolved elections! 7 May will be the tenth English local election Democracy Club has covered, which means we've a decade's worth of candidate data to look back on: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2026/04...

New blog: the 2026 town and parish council elections. - 373 town and parish councils are up for election this year. - Due to a lack of candidates in most areas, only 23% of wards will see a poll on 7 May. - 67% of council seats have been won uncontested. democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2026/04...

Great explanation - we are also often asked this.

📮 Received any election leaflets in the post recently? 📸 Before recycling, please consider snapping a photo and uploading it to electionleaflets.org. ℹ️ Over 1,000 leaflets have been added to the database this year alone!

Our submission to the Representation of the People Bill committee has been published: bills.parliament.uk/publications...

📝 We've made our lists, and checked them twice. 25,047 candidates have been nominated to stand in the English local elections on 7 May. 140 parties are represented, alongside 794 independent candidates. Get the details and the data: democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2026/04...

Both the Senedd and Scottish Parliament have now dissolved for the upcoming elections - but if you put your postcode into @theyworkforyou.com we're using @democracyclub.org.uk data to tell you more about candidates.

Candidates for the Scottish Parliamentary elections were published last night. These are now all in our system, and voters can view their ballot papers by entering their postcode: whocanivotefor.co.uk

On 7 May, the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru will hold elections on new boundaries. This means that many voters will be in a new constituency or (in the case of Scotland) region.

Are you a candidate in the 7 May English local elections? Add yourself to our database and have your profile featured on whocanivotefor.co.uk Are you a party organiser or campaigner? You can add your whole slate of candidates at once! whocanivotefor.co.uk/standing/

Please help us to hear from Councillors about how our local democracy is changing. 💬 ✅ If you’re a Councillor in England, Wales or N Ireland, please take part in our Councillor Survey or Focus Groups. ✅ If you work with cllrs, please share this. How to get involved 👉 https://ow.ly/SfPt50Yo908

🗳️ 📆 The Scottish Parliament, the Senedd Cymru and 136 English councils (5,013 councillors and six mayors) are holding elections on 7 May. 👇 Get all the details from our latest blog. 👇 democracyclub.org.uk/blog/2026/03...

*Representation of the People Bill update* Steve Reed has just announced: 'We will repeal in full the power for government to impose a strategy and policy statement on the Electoral Commission'. A very welcome change. I set out last week why it was needed. constitution-unit.com/2026/02/26/t...

👁️All eyes are on the parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton today. Voters in the constituency can find their polling station and candidate list at whocanivotefor.co.uk

We've un-postponed (counter-countermanded?) these elections in our system and will be covering them as usual.

Lovely shoutout to our election leaflets database from Prof. Rob! You can upload leaflets yourself at: electionleaflets.org

Today the UK government has published the Representation of the People Bill. We welcome some measures in the bill and would like others to be improved. Read our press release: electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre...

🕚Eleven candidates have been nominated for the Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election on 26 February. View the full list: whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/pa...

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: