After several weeks of behind-the-scenes work, our interactive candidate finder tool is now live! We’ve got the names of every single candidate standing in this year’s Holyrood election, along with any contact details we’ve been able to find for them so far.
We’ve also been contacting as many candidates as we can in the last week or so, asking them to support our three asks. So far we’ve had almost 60 respond – but there are over 800 people standing in this election, so we need to reach a few more!
So now it’s over to you: find out who your candidates are (both constituency and regional list) by popping in your postcode or clicking on the map, and then get in touch with as many as you can by whatever means suits asking them where they stand on active travel for everyone, and specifically our three asks on accessibility, infrastructure and investment.
We’ll leave it up to you to put it in your own words – we know from politicians we’ve spoken to that they pay more attention to a message that someone’s written themselves than an automated one. Depending on what contact details we have, you can contact them through Facebook, Twitter or email.
The more people candidates hear from, the more they’ll realise this is something that matters to their would-be bosses: you, the electorate. This election is unlikely to see much doorstep campaigning or live hustings events, so raising the issue on line is the best way to do it.
We also need your help to keep our records up to date – if you hear from your candidate, positively or negatively, let us know (with their permission, if it’s not a public message) so we can update our database. Also, if you know of any contact details that we’re missing (again, that are public knowledge – we don’t want to be inadvertently broadcasting anyone’s private email address) then please do pass them on – we can be contacted by Twitter, Facebook or by email on walkwheelcyclevote@gmail.com
There are lots of contentious issues at stake in this election – but we don’t think asks like enabling all children to walk, wheel or cycle to their school should be one of them. It only takes a moment to let your candidates know these issues matter to you – and find out if they matter to them too.