In January 2001, a chance remark by Austin Mitchell, MP for Great Grimsby, about the next election being ‘the first election of the Internet Era’, got Richard Bellamy, a former electoral Returning Officer, to work out a completely original idea for an impartial election education service.

Now Richard Bellamy has set up Electoral Education Limited, a company designed to combat voter apathy and increase turn-out in local and national elections. He was joined in its development by Peter Lacey, Deputy Director of Education for North East Lincolnshire and John Trevitt, Managing Director of Immage Studios and Channel Seven.

ELECT has the backing of a working group consisting of Austin Mitchell, MP for Great Grimsby and vice President of the Hansard Society, Professor The Lord Norton of Louth, Professor of Government at the University of Hull & Chairman of the House of Lords Constitution Committee, Muriel Barker CBE, of Yorkshire Forward and herself a councillor in N.E.Lincolnshire, Dr. Christina Leston-Bandeira, Co-ordinator of the MA in Legislative Studies online, University of Hull, and many other important advocates of raising political awareness among the community, particularly the younger generation.

In the run-up to national and local elections, ELECT will manage websites that will include candidates’ information, plus statements and comments they may make about important issues. A novel feature is that voters will be able to click on and hear candidates saying in their own words answers to questions that people want to know. Voters will also be able to get information and question candidates through email and messageboards under the professional guidance of Chatmoderators..

Prospective candidates in forthcoming local elections are invited to contact Richard Bellamy on 01472 580 708 to make use of the service or for further information.

Peers, MPs and councillors from all three major political parties have examined the scheme and are solidly behind it. “This is a valuable initiative which uses the Web in innovative ways - especially the audio messages from candidates” says Dr. Stephen Coleman, Professor of e-democracy at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford and senior research associate with the Hansard Society's E-Democracy Programme.

Potential voters will have a better opportunity to judge candidates’ sincerity and commitment than just reading a leaflet pushed through their door. It’s hoped that this will encourage people to be less cynical about elections because they will be able to get a balanced and impartial view of every candidate. The service will remain active between elections and provide opportunities for debate on topical issues.

ELECT will be interactive, so voters will be able to quiz MPs and Councillors about their views on important issues like crime, the Euro, or Iraq. There will be regular ‘chat’ sessions at which people will be able to find out what their local councillors really think about questions that may have been troubling them.

A pilot scheme involving parliamentary candidates from Grimsby and Cleethorpes in June 2001 and those in the Doncaster Mayoral Elections in May 2002 is already live.

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