So the decision had been made, we were going to stand. Four of us. Our town’s got about 15,500 people, and 14 councillors in total split across three wards: Central – 2 seats, South – 6 seats, North – 6 seats.
First problem — which wards?
If you’ve never looked into it, there are a few rules for running for town council. You’ve got to be over 18 (easy), registered to vote (tick), and for the past 12 months meet at least one of these: live in one of the wards (or within 3 miles), own/rent property there, or have your main job there.
We all qualified in more than one way, so it was basically pick-your-ward. Jack and I live in South, Rosi’s in North, so Sara went for Central. This bit was surprisingly fun, like playing detective, trying to figure out who else would stand and which seats would be most hotly contested. Final tally: 8 in North, 7 in South, 3 in Central. Not bad odds.
Second problem — the paperwork.
Oh boy. If you don’t know what to do, it’s a lot. Pages of forms, endless instructions. We tackled them together. Each of us needed two voters from our ward to nominate us. Technically, some of us could have nominated ourselves, but that felt naff. My besties live in my ward so I was sorted.
Once we’d wrangled all the signatures, we took them to the elections office. The staff were lovely, and just like that, we were in.
Third problem — canvassing.
None of us had ever done it before. And there was so much to get across: how to register to vote, postal vote deadlines if you didn’t have photo ID, that in South and North you had six votes but didn’t have to use them all, and that you couldn’t always vote for who you wanted depending on where you lived. Oh, and of course, who we actually were.
We split it up. Social media people set up pages and posted regularly. We made a joint leaflet so if someone liked Rosi but couldn’t vote for her, maybe they’d go for me, Jack, or Sara instead.
The leaflet drop was the bit I dreaded, I’m not a dog person, but it was actually lovely. Sunshine, friends helping, and a pint in the pub where it all began after we posted the last one.
Then… nothing left to do but wait.
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