It’s been a busy week for the makers of digital democracy app Rate Your Leader with high profile appearances on both television and radio.
Project director Joel Popoola was interviewed on the UK’s third biggest television news channel for the second time as part of a feature on how politicians and political candidates need to take advantage of digital technology like the project’s free Rate Your Leader app to engage with voters ahead of the 1500 elections taking place in the UK in May 2020.
Speaking from a television studio close to Rate Your Leader’s North East England HQ Joel told RT viewers:
“After the December election many political leaders promised to engage more with their constituencies, but it’s not long until their popularity is tested again in the local elections coming in May.
“It’s just not a case of voting every years. What matters most is for people is the ability of voters to do more than voting when it comes to political engagement”.
Joel also spoke to listeners of the breakfast show on Cambridge 105 Radio, discussing innovative steps local councils can take to reach out to local people and the importance local councils being creative when it comes to public engagement.
An estimated 540,000 people get their news from RT UK every week.
Rate Your Leader is a free app – available from the Apple and Google Marketplaces – which checks users are registered to vote before identifying the MPs, councillors, mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners who serve them.
The app then allows users to communicate direct with these representatives in a way which makes abuse or harassment impossible, and even rate them for responsiveness.
Joel said:
“It’s a testament to Rate Your Leader’s growth and impact that media organisations both international to local see us as authoritative experts on digital democracy.
“It’s important to get the message out any way we can that meaningful interaction between electors and elected isn’t just something that happens in the month before an election, it need to happen every hour of every day.
“Whilst that may sound daunting, it doesn’t have to be – with digital technology allowing the levels of dialogue people expect from their politicians and political institutions on a platform which is convenient for both parties”.
The Rate Your Leader app has a five star rating on the Google market, with one reviewer writing “This is the new level of politics…better communication of leaders with the electorates and accountability”.
An ever-increasing number of MPs, councillorsand Police & Crime Commissioners have already taken advantage of the free democracy app to stay in touch with the people who elect them and to get their message out to confirmed voters in their constituencies, helping them truly understand what matters most to the people who elect them.
