Who should I vote for? Idea for Website.

Germany had 77.7% voter turnout in their 2005 general election. Almost four fifths. In comparison, the UK managed 61.4%. This is less than two thirds. Although it may not sound like much in percentage terms, if the UK had the turnout of Germany, almost ten million more people would be going to the polls. Why does the UK have such low voter turnout? Because the mainstream parties have fairly similar policies, and because the traditional positions of the parties no longer hold. For example, Labour was traditionally left-wing, but is now centre/right. Liberal Democrats are similarly centred. It is difficult to choose. People want to make an informed decision, but don't have the time to fully read party manifestos (and read between the lines!)

A website could do it for you! You are presented with 20 questions (or so), and various aspects of Government policy. For example, 'Do you support the introduction of compulsory ID cards?' or 'Do you support the legalisation of marijuana?'
There are various other possibilities. Each question could have more than a yes/no answer, for example 'Support Strongly', 'Support', 'Neutral', 'Disagree', 'Strongly Disagree' and 'Don't know'. This would allow more tailored service. Each question could also have links alongside it to various sources of opinion: Government web-pages, news articles, campaign groups. It would be integral to the success of the project that the selection of sources was impartial. Party manifestos would not be included here, to try and preclude the user choosing with a certain party view in mind.

Once the user had made their choices, the website would combine these mathematically to decide which party to recommend. Having searched, I found that a similar website already exists, but how it reaches its decisions is completely mysterious. This is what it told me:

Who should I vote for? v2

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

abour -7
Conservative -22
	Liberal Democrat 65
UKIP -5
	Green 43

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

The impartiality and transparency of the site is the most important thing:

• The method of calculation would be explained.
• The party views for each question would have to be demonstrated, with links to the relevant page of each party manifesto.

How did I get this idea? From my friend Florian. He studies something to do with propaganda (it sounds really fun!) As part of his course, he set up a group called Politik Fabrik. They started a similar website. They also had a big campaign, visiting schools to tell kids the benefits of voting and why it is important, and how to research before you choose. On election night, they turned a disused metalworking factory into a club. There were huge screens showing beautiful women casting their vote (propaganda student at work), and you got free entry with your voting paper. Dance all night, vote on the way home!