This period after the election could provide a historic opportunity for achieving voting reform. You can help maximise that opportunity by making the voting system an issue in your local area and to MPs.

Make Votes Count Petition            www.makemyvotecount.org.uk

The Make Votes Count coalition has launched a new web site to act as an essential campaigning tool and to bring new people into the electoral reform campaign. The web site invites visitors to sign-up to a simple petition:

• make my vote count.
• I want a better voting system.
• There would be more point in voting if I could vote for candidates in my order of choice
  and if my vote helped to create a more representative parliament.
• I want a referendum, so that the people can decide how MPs are elected.
• I will do my bit to make this happen.

Visit the website to sign the petition, e-mail your local candidates (and check who supports the campaign), download or order campaign materials, meet other supporters locally, access in-depth briefings and follow the campaign in a daily blog. - so please get clicking. There is also a range of eye-catching posters, leaflets, badges and that all important wristband available to order and display / distribute to promote the campaign. You might want supplies for the committee room of a supportive MP, you might be willing to meet up with other supporters to leaflet the High Street or you might just put a poster in your window and a few flyers up in local newsagents. Whatever you can do will be important. There is no charge for these materials, but donations particularly to cover postage would-be much appreciated.

So please get clicking    .....................     www.makemyvotecount.org.uk

Talking to Candidates
Approach candidates and get them to express their support for voting reform on the record before they become MPs. In our experience once they commit they tend to remain loyal supporters, but it is much harder to convince sitting MPs to come out against the system that elected them. So do take advantage of every opportunity, in pre-election forums etc to ask candidates where they stand. Labour candidates are particularly important, as they are likely to form the majority of MPs in parliament.

Keeping Reform on the Agenda

If you read a piece about electoral reform and the Labour party, or hear someone mention the topic on the radio, do send us a copy of the cutting or email us with details of the broadcast. If there is a local or other phone in, join in. If you write a letter to your local paper, tell us or send us a copy, even if it isn’t published. In this way you can contribute to keeping the issue on the agenda, despite the Lib Dem decision not to major on electoral reform, and we can also discover which journalists/commentators are taking an interest.