Online tool helps voters match with their ideal political party
Who Gets My Vote allows voters to match their positions on key policy issues to those of political parties.
The countdown to the General Election on the 4th of July is on. The political parties have released their manifestos, but how many of us really have time to compare them and work out which parties best fit our views?
An online voting tool, WhoGetsMyVote aims to tackle this issue.
It was developed by academics from a consortium of UK and European universities, including Professor Susan Banducci from the University of Exeter.
It allows voters to match their positions on key policy issues to those of political parties.
Voters are asked to state the extent to which they agree with a series of policy statements. Graphical displays then reveal how close they are to the political parties overall, and on each issue.
Previous versions of WhoGetsMyVote were available during the 2015, 2017 and 2019 General Elections and the 2014 and 2019 European elections. In total the tool has been accessed by more than 500,000 voters.
There is evidence that tools like this, called Voting Advice Applications (VAAs), could help to increase voter turnout, particularly among younger voters. There is also strong evidence that VAAs can help voters align their policy preferences with their vote choice.
Professor Banducci said: “VAA can engage citizens in elections, particularly for first time voters and young voters. It can be helpful and interesting to learn about your own policy positions relative to those of the political parties.”
WhoGetsMyVote is an exclusively non-profit project not affiliated with any political party or organisation.
The project is led by Dr Jon Wheatley (Oxford Brookes University) and Dr Micha Germann (University of Bath). The Research Group belongs to public universities and consists of the following: Dr. Jon Wheatley (Oxford Brookes University), Dr. Micha Germann (University of Bath), Dr Iulia Cioroianu (University of Bath), Dr. Matthew Wall (University of Swansea), Dr. Roula Nezi (University of Surrey), Prof Susan Banducci (University of Exeter), Prof Ailsa Henderson (University of Edinburgh), Dr Fraser McMillan (The University of Edinburgh), Dr Ed Poole (Cardiff University), Prof Richard Wyn Jones (Cardiff University), Dr Fernando Mendez (University of Zurich), Dr Vasiliki Triga (Cyprus University of Technology) and Dr Costas Djouvas (Cyprus University of Technology).
