Voter helper launched just in time for Bonn’s local elections

The Bonn-o-mat will help undecided voters see which parties best suit them

In just a few short months North Rhine-Westphalia will be heading to the polls, and the region’s citizens will be electing their local representatives – city councillors and mayors. And while the present extraordinary situation has presented many new challenges to officials who are organising the electoral process, one question remains as important as ever – Who should I vote for?

Helping the undecided and promoting democracy

Answering that question can sometimes be very tough – and requires a lot of research in order to get a satisfying conclusion. Sometimes, it’s so tough that some people don’t even go out to vote in the end. Thankfully, this year, just in time for the elections a new online service will help citizens of Bonn find the party and candidate that best fits their priorities.

The Bonn-o-mat was developed by the Open Knowledge Lab Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and Offene Kommunen.NRW (Open Municipalities of North Rhine-Westphalia), the Mehr Demokratie NRW e.V (More Democracy North Rhine-Westphalia) and the Open Knowledge Foundation-Germany.

It aims to help undecided voters which candidates would are the best fit for them after answering a series of 30 questions. Ones that are particularly important to you, can be assigned additional weight before getting the final result. Said result is an overview of the overlap between your positions and the positions of different parties and candidates who are taking part in the local elections in Bonn.

The tool is an ideal way for undecided voters to get a quick overview of who they are most in-sync with, saving them time and potentially even pushing them into the direction of the ballot box, thereby strengthening the local democratic process in the city and giving the newly-elected officials a fresh breath of legitimacy.