Time for a mock election

Some brief ideas and potential resources

I'm sure pupils and schools will be as excited as the voting public about the plans for a national poll on July 4th.

This video clip looks at the issues that matter most to voters

But what issues will sway voters in your school? There are some ideas in the article from the Guardian. It's a few years old, but worth a read if you have been tasked with holding a mock poll in your school and are looking for ideas.

Having overseen mock elections in a number of schools, going back to 1997 (plus one referendum), I would echo some key sentiments.

Some reflections on the mechanics of holding a mock poll...

(1) Choose candidates to represent registered UK parties. Just one set of candidates across the year groups, because it's just easier to administer. (2) Policies should be drawn from manifestos. This does mean that candidates may choose to focus on the fact that some parties favour reversal of government policies on drugs, but these policies have in the past featured in official party platforms, so you might need to clear that one in your school with someone higher up the pay scale. If the spectre of the BNP raises its head, I've tended to say that their campaign slogans contravene school equal opportunities policies. But, fortunately, this potential problem can be nipped in the bud by stating that they are no longer officially registered as a political party.

(3) Try to have hustings across year-wide assemblies. Try to ensure speeches are short and sharp - limit to two minutes, would be my advice.

(4) Print ballot papers out to look like what official polling cards would look like. This can be done fairly easily on Excel. (5) Print them in different colours by year group. (6) Make ballot boxes from photocopier paper boxes, and put "BALLOT BOX" signs on them. (7) Organise different year groups to vote in different parts of the school. Get lots of staff help with this. Provide staff just before voting takes place with ballot papers, just before students cast their vote. If these ballot papers are issued earlier in the day, then the "security" of the ballot is compromised. (8) Ask school leadership for a slot in Friday assembly to announce the outcome. (9) Results can be counted and announced by year group - hence separate voting stations and different coloured ballot papers.

(10) ps get "volunteers" to help you with making the ballot boxes and counting votes. pps somewhere if you have time, you can also carry out some polling. Volunteers can go round during registration time and do quick head count of voting intentions. ppps something I haven't done, but have seen is campaign videos - something I might think about this year.

Some more material/ideas is contained in a pack from the Hansard Society. They may produce an updated version, but link to an old one is here.