Reflections on the 2018 Jersey Elections

The objective of the flow.je 2018 Elections coverage was to improve the findability of information relating to the participating candidates.

In order to provide context to the current elections, the results of previous elections were researched and collated from online sources together with links to the candidate's campaign material and manifestos (where available). This data set forms the foundation of the flow.je Jersey Elections Archive and provides insight into voter participation and the past election performance of the candidates.

With dedicated pages for each candidate providing links to campaign and States Assembly resources - in which keywords have been emphasised for Search Engine Optimisation - flow.je webpages featured prominently in Google search results in the run up to polling day.

Promotion on local political groups on Facebook attracted further users, with over 2,000 people estimated to have accessed flow.je in the 60 days between the launch of the website and the General Elections on the 16^th May 2018.

Website Statistics : 17^th March – 17^th May 2018

Google search impressions for flow.je — Graph showing the number of times per day a link to flow.je appeared in Google search results.

Google Analytics overview of flow.je — Statistics from Google Analytics of flow.je users who had *Do Not Track* disabled.

Elections Observations

Of the 91 candidates who stood for election in 2018:

89 provided a 500 word manifesto to Vote.je
35 provided a full personal manifesto on their website/social media channel
18 represented a full party manifesto for Reform Jersey
33 had a website
51 had a Facebook page
47 had a Twitter account

Of the 61 candidates for Deputy:

15 live in a different parish to their constituency (7 of whom were elected)

Considerations for 2022

The hustings format could be greatly improved with the addition of technology to allow audience participation, such as Poll Everywhere.
The manifestos of unopposed candidates should be included in the Vote.je leaflet delivered to Island households.
Vote.je should request image rights from the candidates to allow the use of their photos on local websites (permission to use the candidate photos on flow.je was denied by Vote.je for privacy reasons).
Third-party campaigning should be required to include the name of the organisation/person(s) responsible for transparency and accountability.
Complete turnout figures should be made available within 24 hours of the elections (~~at time of writing, the figures for the St Helier No 3 & 4 Deputy Elections and those of the individual parishes in relation to the Senators Elections have yet to be published~~ figures were published on Vote.je on 24^th May 2018).

Thanks Everyone!

flow.je would like to thank all the candidates for their participation in the 2018 General Elections along with all our visitors who have made this project a worthwhile endeavour :)