Map leaflets are one of those campaigning tools that don’t always sound exciting – until you see one done properly. When they’re done well, map leaflets feel personal, local, and hard to ignore.
People love seeing their own street. A map leaflet immediately answers the question most voters have, “What does this have to do with me?” If they spot their road, the park they walk through, that pothole they complained about with their mates or the junction they thought was dangerous, you’ve already won their attention before they’ve read a single word.
A good map leaflet also demonstrates that we are working hard and all year round. If you are out in all weathers, get pictures of you doing things throughout the year. This will demonstrate commitment to community work outside of election time when other parties can pop up having been entirely absent for the rest of the time. Photographs will also help to connect the reader with our candidates, and will make an impression even with those who are not going to go on to read all of the text. Map leaflets are a great place to use those smaller issue photos that you pick up throughout the year (next to a pothole, next to new grit bin etc).
If you plan to use a map leaflet, it is helpful to keep a log of your casework wins, campaigns and things you are working on getting resolved throughout the year. I know some councillors and candidates that keep this as a file on their onedrive or google, some that make a spreadsheet and some that use programmes like Trello. I also know people that have a physical map of their ward in their office or somewhere in their home, that they add post-it notes to throughout the year.
As many places go through Local Government Reorganisation, it may be that established borough and district wards are morphing with County divisions to become new areas for Unitary Council elections. It may be also that your local authority has gone through a boundary review and the wards have changed significantly. Map leaflets can be really helpful for the residents to understand the changes and who is best to represent them (hard working Lib Dems that get things done of course). The new areas may be significantly bigger than the previous wards, so the local party will have to think about whether the map chosen for the leaflet covers the whole area, or if smaller and more focused maps in smaller areas are more appropriate.
Do not use maps that are copyrighted without permission, that is a surefire way of getting into a LOT of trouble. Ordinance survey has a website www.electionmaps.co.uk that allows political parties to download and use maps in their election literature. You do need to make sure that you have read the terms and conditions such as including a copyright statement when reproducing maps. You can find out more about this on the ALDC website here.
Looking different to other political literature is important, especially during elections where residents are getting bombarded by all political parties. The joy of the map leaflet is that it communicates a lot, but in a visual, standout way. They feel like a neighbour pointing out what is going on on your doorstep and that is why they work so well.
As Liberal Democrats, we are strong community champions that are working on things that people care about in our local areas and getting things fixed for people. One of our key messages in my borough of Faversham is “people trust the Lib Dem team to get things done” – a map leaflet is a perfect back up to that message.
You can access our latest map leaflet templates on our Countdown to May 2026 webpage. You can also order your map leaflets as part of our Three Leaflet Deal.