Battle of the tactical voting apps: Remainers launch website that shows supporters how to thwart Brexit and Leavers turn to technology to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of No 10
- Tactical.vote aims to help Remain supporters to vote tactically to thwart Brexit
- Says they should ‘vote Labour where they can win and Lib Dems where they can’
- Uses data including results from previous elections to choose ‘best’ candidates
Remain campaigners have launched a website that shows EU supporters who to tactically vote for to have the best chance of stopping a Tory majority and thwarting Brexit.
The tactical.vote website, developed by a ‘political tech collective’, promises ‘Your vote can stop the Tories’.
It claims: ‘There’s a lot that divides us. But to defeat the Tories, it’s vital to vote for Labour where they can win, and Lib Dems where they can win.’
The site is part of a massive effort to encourage tactical voting by both sides of the Brexit divide – with the willingness of the public to ‘lend’ their support to parties set to have a major impact on the result.
In the ‘first past the post’ system, constituencies are often contested between two parties – with others having little chance of victory.
But for each political wing, avoiding splitting the vote can be crucial to their prospects.
Pro-Brexit group Leave.EU has also promised to launch an app that will advise Leavers which pro-Brexit candidate to vote for in their constituency.
This would avoid splitting the vote and allowing Jeremy Corbyn sneak through the middle into Downing Street.
Gina Miller – seen in central London on September 24 – is also set to launch an online tool that ‘reccommend how to vote to boos the anti-Brexit cause’
Nigel Farage is being urged to avoid running candidates in key seats the Tories are targeting or defending, with his decision likely to be pivotal for Boris Johnson’s chances of getting an overall majority.
The tool uses data including results from previous elections to choose the ‘best’ candidates. Voters are told to enter a postcode to be advised who to vote for in their seat.
Meanwhile, a tactical voting app to guide anti-Brexit voters was released by the Best for Britain campaign.
The group predicted that the Conservatives would win a majority of 44 unless at least a third of Remain voters cast their ballots tactically.
It said that if just 30per cent of Remain supporters cast their ballots tactically, they could secure a majority of four for a ‘Remain’ coalition.
The research by the anti-Brexit campaign was based on seat-by-seat analysis of 46,000 people over September and October.
It was released yesterday ahead of the expected approval of a December 12 election by the House of Lords.
If 40per cent of pro-Remain voters worked tactically then they could return a majority of 36, reflecting their Brexit views, according to the research.
The tactical.vote website, developed by a ‘political tech collective’, promises ‘Your vote can stop the Tories’
The study was carried out by the Focaldata polling agency using a technique known as ‘multi-level regression and post-stratification’. The method reportedly gave a rare but accurate prediction that Donald Trump would become US president in 2016, and predicted the outcome of the 2017 election.
It came as Momentum, the pro-Corbyn campaigning organisation, began targeting university students with the Univotes website, where they can enter their home and university postcodes to find out where their votes will make the biggest impact for Labour.
‘Use this quick and easy tool to determine where you should vote to hit the Tories the hardest,’ the site says.
The data compiled by Best for Britain is why Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna is standing in the Cities of London and Westminster seat, as it shows the party has a good shot there against the Conservatives.
With the British Election Study reporting that voter volatility is at its highest level for decades, tactical voting could play a major role.
Remainers are putting their faith in tactical voting to try and deprive Boris Johnson of a majority to pass his Brexit agreement
Half of people are now floating voters, and Brexit and other events – like immigration and the financial crash – have shattered traditional party loyalties.
Former Tory MP Dominic Grieve, who is standing as an independent, said that he was a ‘direct beneficiary’ of tactical voting as the Lib Dems have agreed to stand aside in his seat.