Every election brings with it posters of candidates plastered on every available surface. And every election, Tidy Towns Committees plead with candidates to show some voluntary restraint in the absence of any enforceable mechanism to rein them in.
There are entirely predictable issues with traffic visibility and access to and use of paths and pavements. And further than that, they create ecological issues and generate vast amounts of waste, particularly when you include insane amounts of leaflets being frisbee’d through every letterbox in the constituency in the country which are, in many cases, also unwelcome.
Then we have canvassers calling when you are trying to put the kids to bed, wind down after a long day of work or just generally minding your own business. The topic of canvassing is a more ambivalent one - some really don’t want canvassers and others want them to call to their home so it’s a toss up!
I didn’t do posters because I personally dislike them. But also because in every survey the majority have expressed issues with them and that should be respected. The waste is enormous and in a time where we are all working hard to overcome the ‘disposable culture’ is ridiculous. I don’t believe that it is fair to ask the electorate to pay for things they don’t want - as many parties will claim back their expenditure on posters after the election.
Some changes I would very much like to see in future elections are:
The provision of electronic poster boards in every town and village that could be used all year round to promote local businesses, services, groups and artists very inexpensively. Postering for elections could then be limited to providing your digital artwork to the group who manage the electronic posters and could rotate them on a strictly equal schedule.
In the vast majority of towns and villages, there are community halls which could play a vital role in ensuring that people have access to information about candidates and indeed the candidates themselves. I would love to see Community Hall meetings with all the candidates so that people who have questions and want to talk to them, can go along to meet them.
And perhaps we should consider leaflet stations in shops or other locations in every town and village where candidates make their leaflets available and people take them if they want them.
Perhaps these aren’t the right solutions either. But I think we need to start having a conversation about elections that centre the electorate instead of mindlessly facilitating whatever helps the parties with the most money to get re-elected - because whatever your views on politics and parties, that’s not really democracy in action.
I don’t dispute that there is a certain amount of self-interest in these proposals. Of course I would say that as a first-time candidate for a smaller party. But actually, limits on electioneering activity mean that all small candidates get better opportunities to be heard. And that also means that the electorate get more opportunities to get to know all prospective candidates and make more informed choices - instead of being lost and turned off by the tsunami of posters, leaflets and canvassers operated by the main parties.
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