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There’s an election coming but can you vote in it? Free app lets voters know at touch of a button

A democracy project is urging people to check whether or not they registered to vote with a General Election near certain.

The Digital Democracy project are advising voters to use their free Rate Your Leader app – which verifies voters on the electoral roll – to check in seconds whether or not they are entitled to vote

UK Government figures show that more than 100,000 people applied to register to vote in just 48 hours since the end of Parliament’s summer break, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson attemptsto call a new election were initially rebuffed by other parties.

Government figures show that:


  • 52,408 applied to register to vote on Monday September 2nd
  • 64,485 applied to register to vote on Tuesday September 3rd

58% of the applications came from people aged 34 and under.

Rate Your Leader, is a free app which shows voters within seconds if they are registered to vote – and if they are, where they are registered.

The app also allows voters to communicate directly with elected representatives in a way which makes abuse impossible, as well as rating them for responsiveness.

The app was developed by the Digital Democracy project, which aims to use digital technology to reconnect electors and the elected.

Founder Joel Popoola said:

“100,000 new voters is enough people to fill somewhere the size of Lincoln, Exeter or Cheltenham. And that could swing some very tight local contests.

“We could be weeks away from a General Election, and if you want to have your say make sure you can vote now – Rate Your Leader is free and can tell you in seconds.

“Even if you think you are registered it doesn’t hurt to see if you are on the published electoral roll – at recent elections we’ve seen people turned away at the polling booth in very tight contests, as well as a lot of excitement about sudden peaks in voter registration, a lot of which was actually just been people who were already registered unnecessarily re-registering.

“If you’ve recently moved house you might not know if your voter registration is still valid or where it is valid, something particularly important at this time of year for students – which is why we created an app to give people the information they need instantly.

The Rate Your Leader app is available from the Apple and Google Marketplaces. The 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, councillors, MEPs and 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.

The Rate Your Leader app currently only has access to the published electoral roll and may not be able to verify the registration of voters who have requested their details not be published.