What elections tell us about public engagement (and why we keep ignoring it)

Another May comes around, which means that another local election cycle is here. This year has been impossible to miss. Which is quite unusual in the middle of a general election cycle.

You may notice that I love chiming in on politics and what it means for engagement. Sorry about that; I just find it fascinating (enough to have taken my degree in it). So I thought I would offer some thoughts about what elections tell us about public engagement, even though we treat it as something completely different.

Turnout in local elections

Turnout in the 2025 local elections was just 34% — one of the lowest in recent decades, despite voters reporting high confidence in how the elections were run. Zoom out, and the long term picture is even starker: local election turnout in England has hovered between 30–40% for most of the last 20 years, dipping as low as 21% in 2024.

For anyone working in public engagement, these numbers aren’t just statistics.

They’re a message.

A warning.

A mirror.

Elections are the biggest, clearest, most unfiltered form of public engagement we ever get — and they tell us things our consultations rarely want to hear.

Here is my list of the big messages that come of elections.

Elections expose who feels connected — and who doesn’t

The Electoral Commission’s 2025 report is blunt: turnout was low, and has been declining for decades. That’s not apathy. It’s a signal.

Low turnout areas map closely onto the same communities engagement teams struggle to reach: people in insecure work, renters, younger voters, disabled people, and those with low institutional trust.

When only a third of people vote, it’s not that two thirds don’t care. It’s that two thirds don’t believe the system is listening.

Elections show what people care about — without being asked

Consultations ask people to respond to our questions. Elections show us their priorities.

In 2025, Reform UK won 41% of all seats up for election in the councils that voted.

Not because people were carefully weighing local manifestos — but because elections are one of the few moments where people can express frustration, identity, and belonging in a way institutions cannot ignore.

Elections are public engagement without the choreography.

Elections reveal the emotional drivers we pretend aren’t there

The data shows voters were 79% confident the 2025 elections were well run. So the issue isn’t process. It’s emotion. Often unfiltered.

People vote — or don’t — based on trust, fairness, anger, pride, fear, hope.

These drivers shape consultations too, but we bury them under feedback reports, options appraisals, and “you said, we did” slides.

Elections remind us that emotion is data too.

Elections highlight the limits of ‘invited’ engagement

Workshops, surveys, drop ins — these are all invited forms of engagement.

Elections are uninvited. People speak whether we’re ready or not.

Turnout patterns show that the people who don’t come to our events are the same people who don’t come to the ballot box. Not because they’re disengaged, but because they don’t see themselves in the system.

If engagement only listens on institutional terms, it will always miss the majority.

Elections show us the consequences of not listening

The 2025 results also revealed something deeper: the lowest average winner’s vote share ever recorded — just 40.7%. This is fragmentation, disillusionment, a public looking for alternatives.

When people feel unheard, they don’t stay silent; they find another way to speak — through protest votes, new parties, or simply opting out.

Elections are a bit part of the public’s feedback loop on everything that they experience in public life, services and society. We just don’t treat them that way.

Fragmentation is pushing turnout up — but for reasons that should worry us

After years of declining participation, 2026 is shaping up differently.

Not because trust has suddenly improved, or because people feel more connected to local decision making — but because the political landscape is fracturing.

Analysts expect higher turnout in 2026 in key regions, particularly London and competitive councils, driven by:

• the rise of Reform UK, mobilising disillusioned voters who previously stayed home

• the Green Party attracting younger, urban, and professional voters

• a weakened Conservative base splitting in multiple directions

• Labour being challenged simultaneously from the left, right, and centre

This isn’t enthusiasm, it is further evidence of fragmentation.

When the electorate splinters, people who normally sit out local elections suddenly feel they have something to say — or someone to punish. Turnout rises not because engagement is healthy, but because frustration has found multiple outlets.

For public engagement, this matters.

Fragmentation tells us that people are not disengaged — they are disconnected.

They are not apathetic — they are choosing alternative channels.

They are not silent — they are speaking in ways institutions don’t expect.

If turnout rises in 2026, it will be a warning sign, not a comfort. A signal that people are looking for representation they don’t feel they’re getting through traditional processes.

A reminder that engagement systems built for a stable electorate cannot cope with a fractured one.

The question for 2026 isn’t “Why are more people voting?” It’s “Why did they feel they had to wait for an election to be heard?” and “What does it mean for how people feel right now?”

So what should engagement teams learn from elections — especially in 2026?

If we treated elections as engagement insight rather than a political spectacle, we’d already be preparing for what 2026 will bring:

• Design engagement for the people who never show up and find a way for them to express themselves

• Use clearer, more human language

• Acknowledge emotion as legitimate evidence

• Treat unsolicited public expression as data, not noise

• Build long term relationships, not one off exercises

• Stop assuming silence equals consent

Turnout isn’t just a democratic metric. It’s a trust metric.

And with a more fragmented electorate heading into 2026, the message is getting louder: people will speak — loudly — when they feel ignored, but the message will be complex.

The real test for public bodies is whether they can listen before the next ballot box forces the issue.

Open Voice Lab public engagement recommendation

We can help you look at the data, research and what people are saying already, as well as help you design engagement that connects with a wider base of people.

At Open Voice Lab, we work with public sector and VCSE organisations across three areas. If you need a clearer framework for how your organisation approaches community voice, our engagement strategy and planning support can help you design processes that hold up over time. If you need hands-on capacity to reach the communities who don't show up to traditional engagement, our delivery support specialises in getting to underrepresented groups and turning what they say into actionable insight. And if your team needs the skills to sustain this work internally, our training and capability development programmes build long-term confidence across your organisation.

Reach out if you want to discuss this further.