How can the EU Referendum be better for everyone?
Democracy Club and Newspeak house will host an event on the 8th of February to discuss how the civic tech community can work together on the EU referendum.
The UK’s EU referendum will be one of the largest democratic events in recent years.
The implication of either outcome is likely to have a lasting effect on the UK.
We are trying to work out if there is anything the UK civic tech community can do to help the public, that will remain impartial.
Come to our event on 8 February to talk about how we can work together in a natural way
There are roughly 5 areas that we think activity could fall into:
Voter registration / Get out the vote
This is largely carried out by governmental organisations (The Cabinet Office, The Electoral Commission, local authorities, etc) and civic society organisations like Bite The Ballot.
Deliberation and Fact Checking
Or, people using information to decide what their position is (or maybe change it). This is firmly in the hands of the national and local press, as well as organisations like the excellent Full Fact.
Debates
‘Town hall’ or husting events will be happening all over the country. Faith and community groups, such as Citizens UK typically host these sort of events.
Voting
The process of actually voting. This is of course run by councils and The Electoral Commission, but our Polling Station Finder might be able to play a key role in helping people find where to vote.
Polls and Analysis
This will no doubt be a mix of all of the above, with polling companies like Ipsos MORI and others conducting opinion and exit polls.
If you think something is missing from this list, come along to the event to work out what else there is, and how all these groups can work together to make the referendum as good as it can be.
This event will not be about campaigning for one side or the other – this is about trying to improve the process and the ability for others to make their mind up in the most informed way possible.