After a rare fallow year without even a single planned election in 2025, we’ve been inundated with them in 2026. It probably felt for many people that May’s local elections had barely come and gone by the time of Andy Burnham’s pivtol Makerfield by-election on 18 June. And yet, those of us working on Elections comms never got to stop crunching in between, preparing as we were for the Greater Manchester Mayoral Election that the Makerfield result went on to trigger.
· Work
GM Mayoral Election 2026
With this year's GM Mayoral Election switching back to supplementary voting, I wanted to explore new ways of reintroducing the system and how it works to our audience. I've also always wanted to try making a flat‑lay style video, aping the look of countless YouTube and Instagram tutorials and instructional videos that I've watched over the years.
If we got to the point of posting this on TikTok and Instagram, I was toying with the idea of not even hinting at the fact that it was election‑related in the copy and letting that play out as users watch the video. Unfortunately, due to the campaign’s rapid pace and high level of scrutiny, we weren’t able to get it signed off in time to use. But I’m still really proud of it, and want to make more content like this in the future.