When carrying out research to help us produce this website we asked people to tell us about what barriers they felt there were to supporting someone to vote or get involved in politics. The responses we received from people indicated the following three key practice areas: advocacy, capacity, and bias.
A large part of the role of supporting someone is about advocacy. People can be unsure about advocacy and see it as something that is done by an external and independent person. This can, and sometimes should, be the case.
However, when we support people we are inevitably advocating for them all the time. This might be by recognising that they are ill and should see a doctor, or that they like to be outside when the weather is warm and making sure that this happens. There are many different ways in which we advocate for the people we support on a daily basis.
It is important to help people understand the context of their lives and the things that affect them. Helping them discover the many ways in which politics affects them is a key part of this.
Letting people know that they have a democratic right to have a say in how the country is run and how decisions are made is very important.
It is also important to recognise that although not everyone has the capacity to vote; voting is only one of many activities that allow everyone to be involved in the political process.
You may be aware of an issue that is affecting a person you support, but they might find it difficult to raise this. For example, they could be affected by the proposed closure of a local service. They may not be able to tell people, like councillors or MPs, how they feel about this.
As someone who supports that person and advocates for them there are things that you could do to help. For example, you could write to their local politicians or MP asking for a meeting. You could go to this meeting with the person you support and present concerns on their behalf. If the person does not want to, or cannot, say themselves how they feel about this, they can still make a powerful contribution simply by being present at this meeting.
It is OK for you, or other advocates, family or friends to tell politicians and other people about how things affect a person on their behalf. You should always do this with them if you can.
People with a learning disability have the same right to vote as anyone else. In order to vote they must be over 18 years old and must have registered to vote.
To have the capacity to vote, people need to understand that voting means choosing a Representative. They also need to be able to choose between different candidates. People do not need to understand all about politics to have the capacity to vote.
Some people have expressed concerns that the person they support may not have clear ideas about who they choose to vote for, or that they will simply pick someone "they like the look of". In fact this could probably apply to a lot of people.
As long as a person understands what voting is and can choose between different candidates, then they can make their choice by whatever criteria they like. It is not up to anyone else to judge if reasons for choosing someone are valid or not.
It should not be up to one individual to decide if a person does not have the capacity to vote. The Mental Capacity Act (2005) has a code of practice which provides guidance on how to assess someone’s capacity to consent and make decisions. It can be helpful to look at this if you are unsure about how to assess someone’s capacity to vote.
To find out more about what the law says about the capacity to vote you can contact the Electoral Commission.
To find out more about the Mental Capacity Act (2005) you can get contact details for the Office of the Public Guardian and the Court of Protection in the 'links' section of this website
When we surveyed people about supporting others to take part in the political process, one of the key concerns was about bias. It was felt that worries about bias and influencing people could mean some people were reluctant to support others with activities like voting.
It is good to recognise these concerns and it can be extremely helpful to have a team approach to supporting people with these activities where possible. This allows people to discuss their worries and concerns about bias and influence and agree a way of working as a team.
To avoid bias when supporting people with activities like this, remember that your main role is to support someone to find and obtain relevant information that is readily available to everyone. However, the key thing to remember is that your job is to present this existing information to the people you support and not to influence their decision.
It is the people producing the information (in this case, political parties and candidates) who need to be making it accessible to everybody, and this is still often not the case, which can make things harder.
As well as producing this website, a key aim of Every Vote Counts! is to work with election officials, political parties, politicians and others to highlight the importance of making their information open and accessible to everyone.
The easier their information is to access, the more people they can reach. It is their job to get their message across. If you remember that your key role is simply to present existing information to people then there are many ways you can support people with activities, such as voting.
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