General Election Called

On April 18th Theresa May stunned Westminster and the nation by demanding a snap general election on 8 June. The announcement, in which she recanted her repeated promise not to go to the polls before 2020, was made in an unscheduled statement on Tuesday morning from behind a lectern outside 10 Downing Street.

From the Projects viewpoint this news is both exciting and timely and allowed the Project Team to garner considerable effort around linking this election to the 'Votes for Women' Campaign and notably The Representation of The People Act 1918, in several ways. Firstly, wanted to use the opportunity to encourage women and girls who are not yet registered to register to vote. The deadline for registering is May 22nd and the deadline for Postal Vote requests is May 23rd. Secondly, we are hoping to capture the stories of 18 year old woman/women who will be voting for the first time.

What we hope to capture:

1. Why they are voting? Why they think it is important to vote?

2. Find out what they know about how women fought for the vote

3. Discuss their feelings and the issues which matter most to them in relation to exercising their right to vote

4. Hopefully walk with them as they prepare to vote to capture as much of the experience as possible

5. Get as many pictures as we can

The opportunity is just too important to miss and we hope we can capture it all for posterity.

In the meantime we thought that we would post as many posters as we could find that target and encourage women voters. Enjoy