There's been a lot of talk, somewhat understandably so, about how or if the Senedd elections can go ahead this year. Most of the chatter seems to be driven by politicos rather than the public, as per usual. But to me, it seems foolish to delay an election right at the time when now more than ever people in Wales are awake to the difference devolution can make to their every day lives.
For starters, the Americans did it. Twice. Once for the Presidential election last year, and most recently for the Senate race in Georgia.
In case anyone is in any doubt about how or if an election can be run during a pandemic, I'd recommend reading this piece from the University of Nottingham.
In short, this is what we should be doing:
- Broadcasts from home or other remote locations - these could be digital but also televised
- Socially distanced events - town hall style or at sports venues
- More debates and virtual town halls - on TV, on YouTube, on Facebook, on Instagram
- Use pop culture to stress the importance of voting - engage influencers, get content on streaming services
- Spend more money - and not just the money parties raise themselves but public money too, democracy has a cost that is worth paying, especially if you don't want dark money influencing the outcome
- Early voting - this would allow for social distancing to be maintained and for polling places to be made Covid-19 safe
- Postal voting - I cannot stress this enough, everyone needs to be able to vote by post, if they want to
To quote Professor Todd Landman, author of the aforementioned piece, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham;
The main lesson from the US Election is that it is possible to hold an election even under the extreme conditions of a global pandemic, which by election day, had already claimed over 235,000 American lives. Planning, candidate selection, fund raising, campaigning, voting, and tabulation were all carried out relatively successfully, albeit in modified forms.
Therefore, there isn't really a question of 'if' it can be done. It quite clearly can be done. But is there the political will to do it?
It's strange to me to see people in politics so wrapped up in what is happening in American democracy, while at the same time arguing against democracy being allowed to happen as and when it should at home.
It shouldn't be about whether Labour have annoyed people, and if the public are still onside with the decisions taken around the pandemic. The timing of an election should never be orchestrated around where the wind is blowing for a particular political party.
You could argue we don't have a presidential style politics, to which I would emphatically point to Georgia, which was more akin to our elections.
But just because our politics works differently, doesn't mean there aren't lessons we should be learning, particularly as this is the first election where 16 and 17 year olds can vote. For so long politicos have lamented the lack of youth engagement in elections. Now is the time to show they really mean it by properly embracing what should be a largely digital campaign.
But instead political parties are mostly sticking to a digital landscape of 5 - 10 years ago, utilising Facebook and Twitter to get messages out. Where young people largely aren't. To reach them we need to be on Instagram and Tik Tok, and not in a cringey 'down with the kids' way, but with young candidates who are relevant and talking about things that matter to young people, at the forefront.
Ah yes, but what about older folk, I hear you ask? Well, a great many of them are actually on Facebook, which is why so many young people have abandoned it. Who wants to share a digital space with their parents and grandparents, after all? And political parties know this, really, which is why their digital strategies are mostly centred around older people's social media platforms. But a part of me suspects they want to conveniently ignore the importance of spaces like YouTube, Snapchat and WhatsApp, because their voters, the ones who turn out traditionally, aren't there.
This is an opportunity to experiment with politics, reach out further, boost turn out, close the participation gap - I am dismayed to see there isn't a concerted effort to ensure everyone has a postal ballot - but an election on those terms may not be favourable to some. It's a new way of doing things, that is less easily controllable, and less predictable. Who wants to throw the net wider when it may not bring about the desired result?
In order to maintain confidence in the election whenever it happens, one thing is for sure. As well as moving away from overnight counting, we need to put more resource into counting postal votes, to avoid a situation where the veracity of the result is questioned in the same way it has been in America. Most of us know that votes didn't just appear out of nowhere, it's just that they came in first but were last to be counted. We can't be in that same position, if we want to avoid our democracy descending to the levels we've seen it get to across the Atlantic.
Democracy doesn't have to stop because of Covid-19, but it has to be adapt, and we in politics need to adapt with it.
Comments
Post a Comment