Everybody’s Election

In 2013 The Danish Ministry of Children, Gender Equality, Integration and Social Affairs launched a campaign aiming at getting more non-ethnic Danes to vote. The Campaign was named “Alles Valg 2013” (Everybody’s election 2013)

Workz assisted in developing dialogue tool, which was sent to a number of ethnic and political associations and to selected educational institutions. The aim of the tool was to motivate the participants to vote by letting them relate to actual subjects in local politics

The number of non-ethnic Danes who voted in the 2013 election rose moderately and Oxford Research evaluated the campaign as a success. Their conclusion on the dialogue tool was:

 “The dialogue tool has contributed with new knowledge concerning local politics and has increased the participants’ motivation for voting at the local and regional elections substantially. Particularly, the dialogue tool has given the participants insight into and new knowledge of the municipality’s areas of responsibility and tasks”. – Oxford Research, Evaluation of the campaign “Alles Valg 2013”

ABOUT THE DIALOGUE TOOL

The tool is designed in a way that motivates the participants to discuss what you as a citizen get to influence if you vote at the local election. The participants convene in groups and go through a stack of cards that each represents a local initiative.

The dialogue tool has contributed with new knowledge concerning local politics and has increased the participants’ motivation for voting at the local and regional elections substantially

Non-ethnic Danes come in all ages and have very different cultural, professional and educational backgrounds. Therefore, the tool primarily focuses on common subjects in local politics.

For each card the participants must make a joint decision on whether they say “yes” or “no” to the initiative. The final decision is made as a group based on consensus or a vote and the participants have opportunities to share their personal opinions during the process. After this, the participants do an individual exercise where they consider the distribution of financial means to the municipality’s different areas of responsibility.

Through the dialogue the participants are made more aware of the municipality’s areas of responsibility and they experience that they have an opinion on some of the questions that affect the everyday of themselves and their family.

One of the interviewees in the evaluation put it this way:

I believe that many people have been introduces to the municipal system and to which tasks the municipality carry out. It is something they have had no awareness of. They learn that it is necessary to cooperate and prioritise. You cannot choose everything at a time. In that way they get an insight into how the society runs. – Oxford Research , Evaluation of the campaign “Alles Valg 2013”

It is this increased awareness that leads more voters to the ballot boxes.