Bite The Ballot was a British youth democracy engagement organisation focused on voter registration and civic participation among young people.
Founded in 2010 by teachers Michael Sani and David Hughesman, the organisation ran campaigns promoting voter registration, political education and youth participation in elections. It organised National Voter Registration Day, the Turn Up campaign, the Leaders Live debates and the digital engagement platform Verto.
Bite The Ballot stated that its aim was to encourage young people to make informed voting decisions, increase youth electoral participation, and ensure young people's views were represented in UK politics.
During the 2010s, Bite The Ballot worked with local authorities, media organisations, charities and UK Parliamentarians on voter registration and democratic engagement projects. Its campaigns and policy proposals were referenced in parliamentary debates, committee evidence, government policy and electoral reform discussions concerning youth participation and electoral registration in the UK.
The original community interest company, Bite The Ballot CIC, was dissolved in 2017.
Founding and early development (2010–2012) Bite The Ballot was founded in 2010 by Michael Sani and David Hughesman, teachers at Wilmington Enterprise College, Dartford. It began as a youth led classroom project intended to challenge perceptions of political apathy among young people. In 2011, Bite The Ballot worked with the Cabinet Office's Democratic Engagement Team on a pilot scheme designed to encourage voter registration, and also hosted debate events in Parliament with politicians including Lord Roberts and Shaun Bailey. Ben Pook was involved since its formation, creating promotional videos with influencers Jamal Edwards, Sam Pepper and Dominique Moore (and remains an associate of Sani as of 2026).
In April 2012, Bite The Ballot organised what it described as the UK's first youth voter registration rally, Youth Vote London, at the Ministry of Sound, London in partnership with UpRise, Reprezent radio, the Spirit of London Awards and the Media Trust. It was attended by rapper Tinie Tempah, filmmaker Noel Clarke and actor Ashley Walters. The event sought to combat low voter turnout from the previous general election, where 44% of 18 to 24 year olds participated. The organisation also launched Inspired Impressions, an art competition. The winning entries were displayed at the Houses of Parliament. During this period, Bite The Ballot developed Rock Enrol!, a democratic engagement resource supported by the Cabinet Office. This project expanded into The Basics, an Ofsted recommended political literacy workshop delivered in schools, campuses and community groups.
National expansion (2013–2016) In 2013, Bite The Ballot launched My Manifesto, a youth policy report intended to gather political recommendations from young people and "inspire [politicians] to see the true value of the youth vote". Developed with the Hansard Society and Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, it sought to increase youth political engagement by presenting policy recommendations based on input from "more than 5,000 young people". Its authors included Eugene Mensah, Charlotte Parsons, Annique Simpson and Symeon Brown. My Manifesto recommendations included greater political, financial and employability education in schools; improved mental health and health education services; expanded apprenticeships and traineeships; discounted public transport fares; measures to address unaffordable housing and homelessness; and initiatives to improve trust between young people and the police.
The report was welcomed by David Cameron, who said Bite The Ballot helped young people "feel empowered to vote”, and by Ed Miliband, who said the project was "timely and important". Nick Clegg called himself a "huge supporter" of the organisation's work. The three main UK wide parties' 2015 manifestos reflected several themes raised in My Manifesto, particularly apprenticeships, youth employment, mental health, housing and transport, although the proposals varied greatly in emphasis.
In February 2014, the organisation launched the UK's first National Voter Registration Day (NVRD), timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Reform Act 1832. Media reports described an increase in voter registration activity during the campaign. Mevan Babakar, Rose Lowe, Peter Lesniak, Scott Craig and Oliver Sidorczuk were involved at this time. According to Bite The Ballot, over 50,000 people registered to vote, "at a cost of 25p per registration, roughly 100 times more cost effective than the Electoral Commission". During the campaign, Sani criticised comedian Russell Brand's calls for electoral disengagement, arguing that low youth turnout reflected under registration and lack of political education rather than apathy. Sani also said: Our message to young voters is that if you believe that there's no one worth voting for, spoil your ballot to get your point across. Then you can't be described as the apathetic. You'll be sending a message to [politicians] that you value democracy, but don't believe in them.In April 2014, Bite The Ballot and 38 Degrees organised a nationwide Join The Vote initiative, which mobilised volunteers to canvass and encourage voter registration ahead of the 2014 local elections and European Parliament election. The organisations estimated that up to 6.5 million voters were entirely missing from the electoral register at the time. Later that year, Bite The Ballot supported the Voter Registration Bill in the House of Lords and launched The Amendment, a campaign intended to improve voter registration and political engagement in Wales via an amendment to the Wales Bill.
In September 2014, Bite The Ballot sought to work more directly with local authorities and electoral registration officers, holding an Educate, Engage and Empower conference on International Democracy Day to discuss youth registration strategies with councils, politicians and civil society partners, including Cabinet Office Minister Lord Wallace and London Youth. It was framed on "attracting, inspiring and registering young voters".
Around this time, local authorities used Cabinet Office grants to contract Bite The Ballot directly. The organisation began to place trained field workers on secondments inside council's electoral services departments. Operating across Nottingham, Brent, Birmingham, Wiltshire, Cardiff and Cornwall, the officers ran campus events and classroom workshops. This structure combined Bite the Ballot's peer to peer youth outreach with council backend registration systems. These Community Engagement Officers were also funded by grants to Bite The Ballot, including from the Barrow Cadbury Trust. Appointees included and Usaama Kaweesa.
Ahead of the 2015 UK general election, Bite The Ballot partnered with ITV News and Twitter to organise Leaders Live, a series of live streamed interviews and question and answer sessions with political party leaders. Participants were Natalie Bennett, Nigel Farage, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg. David Cameron declined to participate despite initially agreeing to appear, attracting criticism from the organisers. Several moments from Leaders Live received press attention, including Farage appearing to contradict UK Independence Party policy on sex and relationships education. In addition, Miliband publicly backed extending voting rights to 16 and 17 year olds, Clegg publicly again apologised for the Liberal Democrats' reversal on university tuition fees, and Bennett said drug misuse should be treated as a health issue rather than a criminal matter, calling for parliamentary debate on the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
In early 2015, Bite The Ballot also participated in the Daily Mirror cross sector No Vote No Voice youth voter registration campaign with journalist Ros Wynne Jones. It included a nationwide bus tour and received endorsements from actor Ricky Tomlinson and cast members of The Only Way Is Essex.
In 2015, Bite The Ballot launched Verto, a digital voting advice application and political engagement platform developed and assessed with the think tank Demos, the Political Studies Association and academic researchers, Emily Rainsford and Alex Dobson. The platform encouraged users to compare their political views with those of parties and other participants. A London focused version, Verto.London, was later released during the 2016 London mayoral election campaign.
Later, in April 2016, Bite The Ballot participated in a youth town hall event in London with United States President Barack Obama during his final official visit to the UK. Obama urged young attendees to reject political pessimism and engage with democratic participation and social change, and praised Sani personally:You're young leaders, like Michael Sani, who's here today. Michael was inspired by America's Rock the Vote voter registration initiative, so he started his own Bite The Ballot initiative here in the UK. He spent time in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he learned about our civil rights movement [and he] said: "I have a new understanding of the meaning of perseverance, resilience and delayed gratification; about fighting for change you may not live to see, but your children will live to see".Bite The Ballot also worked with organisations including Operation Black Vote, UK Youth, Gingerbread, Mencap and Muscular Dystrophy UK to address under registration among young, disabled and minority voters. It also supported an Uber and Whizz Kidz initiative providing free wheelchair accessible transport to polling stations during local elections.
EU referendum and Turn Up campaign Ahead of the 2016 UK European Union membership referendum, Bite The Ballot worked with HOPE not hate to launch the Turn Up voter registration campaign. The campaign promoted voter registration through partnerships with digital platforms and companies, including Twitter, Tinder, Uber and Deliveroo. Prime Minister David Cameron publicly backed efforts to encourage voter registration among younger voters in the days before the referendum registration deadline. Despite Cameron's late support, he was criticised for accelerating individual electoral registration reforms against Electoral Commission advice — which had also reported a fall of 40% in the number of young ‘attainers' in December 2015 — risking the disenfranchisement of up to 1.9 million voters, many of them younger and more transient electors. In addition, commentators speculated that the decision to extend the voter registration deadline by 48 hours was "undoubtedly aimed at young people".
During the EU referendum campaign, Bite The Ballot also organised In Out Live, a live streamed debate featuring media personalities and campaigners, including YouTuber David Vujanic, activist Bob Geldof and commentator Katie Hopkins. The event was independently fact checked by Full Fact.
In 2016, Bite The Ballot also coordinated an all party open letter signed by more than 40 current and former party leaders — including Lord Kinnock, Tim Farron, Caroline Lucas, Lord Bourne, Leanne Wood and Natalie Bennett — calling for stronger citizenship and democratic education in schools and colleges.
Later activity and transition (2017–2019) During the snap 2017 UK general election campaign, Bite The Ballot relaunched Turn Up, participating in youth voter registration campaigns alongside Hope not hate and the National Union of Students. During the campaign period, Cabinet Office figures showed that 622,000 people registered to vote in the final 24 hours before the deadline — including approximately 246,000 people under the age of 25.