Democratic Dashboard: Helping You Access Data For Election

Chandler’s Ford hustings will be taking place this evening – 22nd April 2015 (Wednesday) at the Methodist Church. It’s time we focussed and did some good reading about the 2015 election.

I recommend Democratic Dashboard.

Democratic Dashboard is a project established by the Democratic Audit, based in the London School of Economics.

The Democratic Dashboard is a voter information resource, making constituency data open and accessible in the run-up to the UK’s 2015 General Election.

Carl Cullinane is the project lead behind the Democratic Dashboard. His data visualisation is impressive, making data useful and easy to understand.

Winchester is projected to be a: Semi-Marginal seat.

What is the key aim of the Democratic Dashboard?

According to an interview by Sierra Williams on Democratic Audit UK, the primary aim of the Dashboard is to inform voters (and potential voters) about their local context in the run up to the election.

The Democratic Dashboard is fundamentally citizen-focused, but it aims to provide enough depth and complexity to keep researchers and ‘election junkies’ interested.

Click to read relevant information on our constituency:

Democratic Dashboard: Winchester
Democratic Dashboard: Eastleigh

The election information is very clearly presented. You can find out key details, including our MP’s voting record in the House of Commons, and find out where you can meet and question our candidates.

I’m most interested in the Voter Power Index:

Because this seat is Marginal, your vote is worth 1.9 of the average seat, meaning Very High levels of power (Power Rank: 119 of 632)

Forecasts and Polling

Winchester is projected to be a: Semi-Marginal seat

From Winchester by Democratic Dashboard

Winchester is a mixed urban/rural constituency in the South East. In the General Election 2010, the constituency was a Marginal seat, and a Con-Lib Dem contest. Steve Brine won with a majority of 5.5% (3048 votes); gaining the seat for the Conservatives. This year, the constituency is looking like it will be a Con-Lib Dem Semi-Marginal seat.

Winchester has very low levels of deprivation, while party spending here in 2010 was very high.