Electoral Commission
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The dating register: MySingleFriend.com gears up to get daters voting as Electoral Commission reveals a quarter of UK singles aren’t registered to vote

MySingleFriend.com partners with the Electoral Commission to get singles voting

When it comes to our friends’ love lives, everyone has an opinion (and they’re not afraid to share it). However, it seems British singles are much less likely to have their say in the general election, as Electoral Commission research indicates that as many as one in four UK singles aren’t registered to vote.

MySingleFriend.com will be running an online campaign in conjunction with the Electoral Commission throughout April in a bid to encourage singles to get registered so that they can vote on 7 May.

Sarah Beeny, TV personality and MySingleFriend.com founder commented:

“From matchmaking our pals we think would be perfect for each other, to advising friends to give a bad relationship the boot, when it comes to our mates’ love lives we all want to have our say. But we need to make sure we are equally passionate about sharing our opinions on the governmental issues that could affect us everyday.”

“Around a third of the UK population is single, so we need to ensure that our fabulous singletons use their opportunity to change the world around them, and to ensure their voice is recognised. Throughout April we will be reminding all our users to get registered to vote before the deadline of April 20th.”

In a recent survey, MySingleFriend.com found that political persuasion could be a deal breaker for daters. Around one in five (18 per cent) said it was important that the person they were dating shared their political viewpoint, and one in six said they would give a match a wide berth if their political persuasion opposed their own.

Sarah Beeny continued:

“It is no surprise that political persuasion is so important when picking out a potential partner. We are generally attracted to people we share common ground with, so it is natural that we would connect with those who share our political viewpoints.”

Warren Seddon, Head of Media at the Electoral Commission said:

“If you want to vote, you have to be registered. You don’t want to be discussing politics on a date after polling day and be left embarrassed by revealing you missed your opportunity to vote. The good thing is that it’s now easier than ever to get registered through the new online system, so go now to gov.uk/register-to-vote and make sure you’re in.”

Sarah Beeny continued: 

“You deserve to have your vote heard, so register to vote today.”

The general election is on Thursday 7th May.

For more information, contact the Electoral Commission press office on 020 7271 0512 or out of hours on 07789 920 414  

Notes to editors

  1. What is MySingleFriend.com? - mysinglefriend.com is the brainchild of TV presenter Sarah Beeny. Sarah is notorious for setting her friends up, and it occurred to her that if we could all describe our single friends on a website, then they could all check each other out, cutting out the middleman, and extinguishing the stigma attached to online dating.
  2. The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UK’s democratic process. We regulate party and election finance and set standards for well-run elections and are responsible for the conduct and regulation of referendums held under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000). The Commission is working with a range of partners to help promote voter registration, more details on which can be found on itswebsite here.

 

Channel website: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk

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