Vote for Policies reaches crowdfunding target

Vote for Policies, an online service that encourages the electorate to cast their vote according to policies, has reached its £20,000 crowdfunding target and is now seeking to raise an additional £5,000 to add features to its site.

The service presents users with a series of policies to choose from, with the aim of encouraging users to consider party’s policies rather than voting based on personalities, or simply which party they usually vote for. In this way, the organisation wants to remove bias and boost engagement with politics.

The funding means that Vote for Policies can launch a marketing campaign ahead of the 2015 general election, improve its website so it can deal with high volumes of traffic and include parties from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These steps will help the organisation reach five million people in the run up to the next election.

Founder of Vote for Policies, Matt Chocqueel-Mangan told Blue & Green Tomorrow, “I think a lot of people don’t know who to vote for because it’s very confusing. I don’t think people trust politicians to deliver on their promises, I think there is a lot of media bias and there’s also a lot of negative campaigning they turns people off from voting. 

“I think there are many factors that stop people from voting but it’s certainly not the fault of the electorate. It’s the system that is inaccessible and we need to turn that around.”

The campaign now has one day to try and reach its stretch target. If an additional £5,000 is raised, the organisation will use the money to improve its service.

This will include content explaining what users can do with their results and a blog and news section, allowing Vote for Policies to communicate effectively with the community. The funds will also be used to improve engagement, such as giving users an opportunity to display results on website and allow commenting on specific policies.

To support Vote for Policies’ crowdfunding campaign click here.

Photo: Paul Wilkinson via Flickr 

Further reading:

Vote for Policies crowdfunding campaign tops £3,000

Vote for Policies crowdfunding to support ‘sustainable democracy’

Vote for Policies launches crowdfunding campaign to back sustainable democracy

Sustainable democracy crowdfunding campaign reaches half way point

If we voted for policies at elections, and not parties, the results might surprise us all