The United Kingdom’s largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), has launched what is believed to be the first fully online and interactive election campaign. It will comprehensively cover all candidates in the next General Election and allows voters to quickly access the candidates standing in their own constituency and to canvass their views on shooting in the U.K.
BASC Director of Communications Christopher Graffius said: “Traditional campaigns involve letter-writing and paper-based questionnaires. They can be cumbersome, expensive and ineffectual. We have found that candidates find answering emails to be convenient and straightforward. The system allows voters to address the candidates hoping to represent them on a constituency basis, while allowing BASC to build up a detailed database of opinion from those who will form the next Parliament.”
The campaign has been designed to reflect the growth in computer use, the power of the web to disseminate information and the ease of using email as a lobbying and communications tool. It is open for BASC members and others to use. As well as a straight exchange of opinions the campaign will give voters an opportunity to build up a better individual relationship with prospective MPs and to open a wider dialogue on shooting.
Christopher Graffius said: “It is already clear that our response rate will be much higher than that from previous campaigns. We have contacted all declared candidates and will continue to do so as more are announced. However, many will only answer emails from within their constituencies. Our election site puts the voters in direct contact on the issues which matter to them, and helps us to build up a clear picture of the opinions on shooting across all political parties.“
The BASC election campaign can be accessed via www.0ld.basc.org.uk.