I hope all you UK readers are planning to swing by your polling stations to vote today if there are elections in your area. Polls are open until 22:00 this evening so there’s no excuse for missing out. I’ll be casting my vote after I get back from mountain biking this evening.

I wanted to say a quick word about the tone of the camapaign this time round, but it seems Simon Barrow has beaten me to it over on Liberal Conspiracy. Things in my district of Cardiff have been much the same as his experience:

Lib Dems (currently in control of Cardiff Council)

Campaigned mainly on scare tactics, “how close it is round here” and the “risk” of Labour regaining control. Picked up on the main local issues of graffiti, stray horses, fly tipping and a derelict retail site. Negative and positive campaigning used in equal measure.

• Good: provided phone numbers, email addresses and snail-mail addresses for each candidate (and responded to emails promptly). Energetic and sincere.
• Bad: massive amount of letterbox spam, including fake hand-written letters, fake community newsletters and leaflets in the Labour livery insulting their opposition’s record.

Labour

A typical opposition campaign, picking things the current council hadn’t achieved yet and holding them up as failures, while promising to do more for less.

• Good: campaigned on local rather than national or regional issues
• Bad: provided no contact details whatsoever. Very distant.

Conservatives

Complete silence. Do they even exist in wales? 😉

Plaid Cmyru

Complete silence. Do they even exist in Cardiff? 😉

Independents

“Hai! I can has councillor pls? KThxBi.”

Over the last three local government elections in Cardiff, the swing of votes from Labour to Lib Dems has been impressive. This year it’s going to be close and I’ll be watching the results with interest.

What’s the situation in your area? Is there a close race? Have you any campaign highlights or dubious tactics to report? Hit the comments link and share your thoughts.