Bristol to be part of world-first voting experiment

Sheds on King Street painted in four different colours are the first glimpse of a bold new experiment in democracy taking place in Bristol next month.

On May 6, people will go to the polls to vote for our new city mayor, new metro mayor, new councillors and new police & crime commissioner.

Voting in four sets of elections in the midst of a global pandemic will undoubtedly present numerous challenges.

Bristol has been chosen to be a test city for several novel new way to vote alongside Newcastle, Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire and Aldeburgh in Suffolk.

One of these new methods features the sheds. In what is hoped to be a foolproof system, voters will simply have to stand in a shed matching the colour of the party that they are voting for.

So a vote for Labour’s Marvin Rees means standing in a red shed, for Alastair Watson a blue shed for the Conservative Party, for Lib Dem Caroline Gooch an orange shed and for the Green Party’s Sandy Hore-Ruthven a green shed.

Each party has been consulted on the specific Pantone colour card for their particular sheds with Marvin Rees understood to have set up an internal Labour commission before arriving at Dulux’s Volcanic Red.

Independents will also be able to choose the design of their shed, with newly declared candidate Sean Donnelly set to pick a St George’s flag design to match the outside of his pub, the Three Lions on East Street in Bedminster.

Sheds are being constructed on King Street by a team of set designers from the Bristol Old Vic before being taken to wards across the city – photo: Martin Booth

Polling stations will still be open if old fashioned pencil and paper are the still your preferred method of exercising your democratic right.

But electors living in each ward in the city – which Bristol24/7 is currently profiling in a series of features in the run-up to the local elections – will also be presented with alternative methods of voting.

Some methods will be based on the current system used by MPs in the House of Commons, who file into one of two lobbies depending on whether they are voting for the ayes or the nays.

A City Hall source tells us that parks in some wards may be used to count voters, with each open space aligned to a certain candidate. A simple stroll through a particular park would indicate your preference, with your polling card checked at the park gates.

Victoria Park will be the place where residents of Windmill Hill ward will find their sheds – photo: Ellie Pipe

For those still unwilling or unable to leave their homes, flags will be given and council workers employed to count the number of flags waved out of windows for each candidate.

If anybody leaves it after dark to vote, torches and a booklet with basic Morse code will also be provided.

Bristol city poet Caleb Parkin has been commissioned to encourage people to vote on May 6 by writing a new poem due to be recited from the top of the Cabot Tower and relaid live to citizens from speakers attached to the baskets of hot air balloons.

Perhaps the boldest experiment is taking place in Hotwells & Harbourside ward, with each member of Bristol’s world famous sea shanty quartet The Longest Johns paddleboarding in the docks while singing a song relating to a specific candidate.

Voters will choose who to vote for based on which candidate following behind on the prow of a yellow and blue ferry from Bristol Ferry Boats does the best TikTok dance.

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read more: 11 of the best places in Bristol called shed