Easy as ABC: voters in England tend to pick names nearer top of ballot, data suggests

"In wards where a party fielded three candidates, those listed nearer the top of the ballot paper with a surname nearer the start of the alphabet finished ahead of their party colleagues in 2,200 cases, or 65% of the time. By contrast, candidates listed third out of their party's list with a surname nearer the end of the alphabet topped their party's slate only 382 times, or 11%. If ballot order had no relationship with performance, the figures would be expected to fall much closer to one-third in each position."

"The figures show that out of the main parties in England, Reform had the strongest relationship between where candidates placed among their party colleagues, and the initials of their surname. About 74% of alphabetically advantaged Reform candidates topped their party's vote, compared with fewer than 8% of Reform candidates nearest the bottom of the ballot paper. The Green party had the second-strongest surname effect, followed by Labour."

"In the Queen's Gate ward, where I stood alongside my two fellow Reform UK candidates, Ms Noble and Mr Walker, all our leaflets displayed our three names together. However, the election results showed: Noble 120, Walker 115, and then Zhong (me) 102. That is about 15% to 18% less. It makes no sense at all, as all our campaign materials featured all three of our names."

"Zhong said that this phenomenon was being seen across the party. She added: My party colleague, Henry Woodruff, also noted this in our group chat after the electio"

In local elections in England, candidates listed higher on party ballot slates with surnames earlier in the alphabet more often finished ahead of their party colleagues. In wards where a party fielded three candidates, the top-listed candidate with an alphabetically earlier surname won in 2,200 cases, or 65%, while the third-listed candidate with an alphabetically later surname topped the slate only 382 times, or 11%. If ballot order had no effect, results would be closer to one-third across positions. Reform showed the strongest surname effect, followed by the Green party and Labour. A Reform candidate reported that her surname’s later alphabet position corresponded with lower vote totals than her fellow candidates despite shared campaign materials.

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