ElectionLeaflets.org

We’ve chosen the name The Straight Choice in memory of the infamous campaign leaflet used during the 1983 Bermondsey by-election in a contest between Simon Hughes, standing for the Liberal Party, and Peter Tatchell — the gay rights campaigner — standing for the Labour Party.

The Wikipedia article about the by-election is highly recommended because it gives an idea of just what a different political era it is now from what it was then 25 years ago — partly due to the hard work of people like Peter Tatchell.

From a 2006 article by Andrew Grice in The Independent:

After Mr Hughes resolved to say nothing about his own sexuality, his party issued a leaflet entitled “The Straight Choice”. Mr Tatchell said: “Some of their male canvassers went around the constituency wearing lapel stickers emblazoned with the words ‘I’ve been kissed by Peter Tatchell’, in a blatant bid to win the homophobic vote.

“On the doorsteps, they spread false rumours that I was chair of the local gay society; no such society existed.”

Mr Tatchell said one Liberal member admitted to him that the party was behind the anonymous and illegal campaign leaflet “Which Queen Will You Vote For?”, which ridiculed his sexuality and “invited local voters to have a go at me by listing my home address and phone number”.

Mr Tatchell, now a member of the Green Party, said it was “ironic” that Mr Hughes had admitted he was gay. He received “information” to that effect at the time of the by-election but Labour took a decision not to retaliate.

In 1993 Peter Tatchell wrote:

I was deluged with thousands of abusive telephone calls and hate letters, more than 30 death threats, and over a hundred violent assaults. My flat had to be boarded up against threatened gun and arson attacks. I lived in permanent fear of my life. Indeed, police officers later told me that I was lucky not to have been seriously injured or even killed.

There are dangerous forces out there in society. All politicians are tempted to play with fire when they scent victory. Like any human being, they can be caught up in the madness and do things that go against everything they stand for — if that’s what it takes to win.

Electioneering is a high-stakes game.

We, at The Straight Choice, believe that it’s time for this game to become a spectator sport.

The Straight Choice is an real-time election leaflet project.

Our ambition is to create a live visualization of the flood of party political leaflets as they are delivered across the country during an election campaign.

If you have recently received any election leaflets through your door you can help by photographing or scanning them and uploading the images to our server.

Election leaflets matter

Election leaflets are one of the main weapons in the fight for votes in the UK. They are targeted, effective and sometimes very bitter.

Most voters, who live in safe local authority wards or parliamentary constituencies, receive just one or two leaflets from each party in the course of an election campaign and they’re often ignored.

But in the places where the parties do battle (particularly in a close by-election) households can receive dozens of leaflets per week attacking and delivering rebuttals to attacks on each of the leading candidates as the parties fight for every last vote that can swing the election.

The battles are chosen strategically, constrained by the limited resources of the parties and the concentration of activists on the ground. They can often target a particular candidate where there are known political weaknesses that can be exploited through leafleting.

Most of us don’t get to see these battles, but we all feel the effects when the entire government in power is chosen by the swing of a small number floating voters in marginal constituencies on the basis of a hot local issue that is all but forgotten once the election is in the bag.

If you have a camera or a scanner, and a mailbox that receives party election leaflets, you can be part of the project that helps us to finally map out an entire election campaign in real time.

There will be a prize for the person who spots the most masterfully deceptive leaflet in the country, so don’t throw anything away as we will require hard evidence that it exists once the winner is selected.

For news, opinions and other gossip, check The Straight Choice blog.

Related projects

There are several library archives that have been collecting election leaflets over the decades. Unfortunately, they don’t give time and place or show the battles as they happen. Please check them out to see what election leaflets are like.

• By-elections archives for the UK: http://www.geocities.com/by_elections/index.html
• Scottish elections digital archive: http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/aspect/index.html
• Wales election leaflets: http://www.llgc.org.uk/ymgyrchu/WPA-Ephemera/index.htm
• Ireland election posters: http://electionsireland.org/images/posters/2002general/