New mobile site helps young voters cut through election bullsh!t

There is only one day left until election day, and there are apparently still plenty of people who are still on the fence. So come Thursday, it’s time to make a decision.

A team at Code Computerlove is trying to help young electorates and first time voters cut through the noise and decide which party is worthy of their vote.

Election Bullshit Filter mobile site

The Election Bullshit Filter was created on the back of research that shows young people are disillusioned with UK politics and that many are undecided on which party to vote for.

The site is optimised for mobile devices, and shows a series of quick-fire statements, based on the key issues, policies and opinions that most affect young voters. Users are asked “can you live with” and have to provide a simple yes or no response. The quiz then reveals the party or parties that most closely match their personal priorities.

Of course, it’s all a little tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted, but the Election Bullshit Filter allows users to quickly determine which parties they seem to have the most in common with, and also encourages them to learn more about the policies so they can make a truly informed choice on who to vote for.

Code’s Colin Preston, who came up with the idea, explains: “A few of us here at Code – like so many young and first time voters – were getting fed up with the multi-party bun fight being played out in the media. All the spin doctoring makes it increasingly difficult to determine which party you might actually want to get behind.

“When we reviewed some of the supposedly easy online election advice tools we found them long, complicated and not all engaging.

“The Election Bullshit Filter was something we knew would be fun to create and also be useful for the many undecided voters out there.

“Young people can’t afford to waste their vote, even if they’re not into politics or are fed up of all the election spiel, so we decided to come up with a way to make learning about politics easier and more engaging.

“We have been intentionally controversial in our use of language and visual direction to appeal to the disengaged young electorate in this country.”

To try Code’s ‘Election Bullshit Filter visit (www.electionbullshitfilter.com)

Smartphone voting?

Meanwhile, it seems that only one in three voters (35%) would oppose the introduction of smartphone and tablet voting in general elections, according to research by tecmark. Scotland appears to have more opposition to the idea (43%) than support (32%), whereas only 23% of Londoners oppose the idea of mobile voting.

In this day and age, assuming that the security issues could be handed appropriately and the system not misused, it seems logical to expect that we should all be able to vote on our mobile phones.

Why must we physically go to the nearest school or community centre? And what about those of us (me included) who live abroad or travel frequently? Voting on a mobile device or tablet (or simply being able to vote online) would be a much more attractive option for millions of us. Let’s hope that by the next general election, the government will be implementing or at least trialling such a system.

You can view more examples of the fascinating smartphone voting statistics on the Tecmark site.

Mobile Industry Review would like to think Code Computerlove for the information contained within this article.