For a healthy and vibrant democracy it is essential that the voluntary sector feels able to participate in democratic debate. At the Electoral Commission we are currently undertaking a review of the guidance we produce for non-party campaigners and we are looking for help from the third sector to do this.
Non-party campaigners are those individuals and organisations that campaign at election times but don’t stand their own candidates. Where there is significant spending on campaigning, it is right that there are rules that non-party campaigners must follow to ensure that the system provides transparency for voters.
Much of the campaign activity that voluntary sector organisations undertake around election times is not covered by the rules as it is not reasonably regarded as intended to influence voters. However, some people in the voluntary sector have told us that they have stopped or curtailed campaign activity as they are not sure whether the rules apply to them.
We are reviewing our guidance to make sure it as easy as possible for people understand the rules and know whether their campaign activity is covered by them. To help make sure we get this right we want people to tell us what they think of our current guidance and how it could be improved.
As well as looking at the content of the guidance, we are also looking at the structure and format of the guidance to make it easy to navigate and improve the user experience as well as making sure that we are taking advantage of any technological innovation. Again, we’d like your view on how best to do this.
We really hope you can spare five minutes to
complete our survey and help us make sure that our guidance is as easy to use as possible, freeing you up to carry on making a difference in society.
Last modified on 23 January 2020
