UK Engage has been providing expert, professional referendum and electoral services for more than 12 years.
It is the provider of choice for many councils and private and public sector organisations and is trusted by more than 100 professional bodies across the UK. Every year, we provide election support and, where required, election scrutineers, for more than 500 ballots and referenda of every kind, including multiple-candidate voting, single transferable vote, (STV) and simple Yes/No referenda. Such experience has given us the insight to organise the complexities and anticipate the pitfalls of the electoral process, with minimum wastage of materials, time, or human resource.
However, it isn’t just 12 years of combined expertise that has given us the edge in the provision of electoral services: it’s our innovative use of clever design which has helped us improve levels of engagement and participation and helped to increase voter turnout.
But how do you improve election voter turnout?
How can your organisation engage with its audience and encourage more active participation in the election process?
Well, experience has taught us that the success is all down to planning. A great deal of time and effort will need to be invested in the election process to ensure that as many members as possible feel part of the process and feel engaged enough to want to cast their votes: so, the sooner your organisation starts to plan its election process, the more successful the outcome will be. Here are five practical suggestions for helping to boost member engagement and voter turnout.
Ensure your election process is robust and is trustworthy.
Every election must have integrity and be trustworthy. If voters feel they cannot trust the organisation and structure of the election process then they are unlikely to participate and vote. Therefore, it’s vital that the voting process you select must be secure, reliable and offer absolute privacy protection. Any paper balloting system needs to be organised and readily verifiable. Likewise, any e-balloting or online voting system must be run in conjunction with a trusted and reliable provider like UK Engage. This will ensure adequate encryption, redundancy, privacy protection and will be able to offer a proven track record of reliability. UK Engage works to ISO 27001 procedures to ensure efficient, secure and traceable solutions, whether they choose postal, e-voting, internet or touch-tone telephone voting.
The voting experience should be simple and intuitive.
A voting system which is complicated to follow or too time-consuming is self-defeating. If you really want to encourage participation and increase the number of voters then the process needs to be simple and straightforward. Complicated voting arrangements can discourage participation. Therefore, any paper ballot should contain simple and easy-to-follow instructions and submission options. Online voting pages should load quickly and should have robust error-checking mechanisms in place to identify inconsistencies and omissions.
A successful election is dependent on a planned and informative long-term communications strategy.
The key to any successful election is planning. The process itself begins long before the election is held. In many ways the election is actually the final result of a successful long-term communications strategy. So to guarantee the success of your election you’ll need to speak to communications experts like UK Engage. We can coordinate with all the relevant departments, and use existing websites and publications to promote your election. Through the innovative use of online and offline communications we are able to engage with your members and use your events and publications to emphasise the importance of the election and to introduce your members to both the process and the candidates.
Incorporate online voting.
Online voting or e-balloting has the potential to maintain and occasionally increase voter turnout. It’s undeniable that it is a far more convenient voting method for some people. However, despite these technological advancements this form of voting is still in its relative infancy, and its influence has tended to be overstated. Voting via electronic media undoubtedly plays a significant and increasingly important role in the world of corporate and marketing elections; however, it is still at its most-effective when it works alongside a conventional postal ballot rather than as the prime response mechanism. So it’s vital that your organisation chooses an electoral provider like UK Engage with the expertise to seamlessly blend the rapid response of single or multiple media options with the solid and often required postal ballot.
Keep your election at the top of the agenda all year round.
There’s no point in only promoting an election in the run up to the ballot itself. It’s important enough to merit publicity all year round. Continual promotion can help to build excitement and stimulate interest. Your electoral services provider should help you in promoting your election campaign. UK Engage can co-ordinate and manage your canvassing campaign, provide design and print fulfilment services that are both easy to use and easy on the eye, and can reach out to your members and stakeholders in person and ensure maximum participation with road shows, seminars and workshop conferences.
UK Engage offers a wealth of expertise in all aspects of electoral services, voting, survey, scrutineering, adjudication services, member engagement and referendum management. If you are looking for expert electoral services advice, then look no further than UK Engage.
Contact us on 0345 293 5555 or email enquiries@uk-engage.org