Election '05: High-tech v doorstep canvassing

"What's your position on corporate manslaughter?" The Liberal Democrat candidate Nick Clegg is accosted in the middle of hand-delivering another batch of leaflets on the streets of the leafy rural Sheffield Hallam constituency the day before the polls open.

It turns out the student is actually part of a film crew from the local university but Clegg gamely stays to be filmed and answers the questions anyway.

A few minutes later and it's a case of bundling into a couple of cars and heading back to the campaign office for a bite to eat and to pick up more leaflets for the afternoon deliveries – well over 30,000 will be pushed through letterboxes on this final day of campaigning.

silicon.com was granted access to follow the Liberal Democrat campaign team around in this affluent Sheffield constituency (both Labour and the Conservatives denied requests) to look at how the use of technology has filtered down to the frontline of politics.

The aim was to see what actual impact all the money and faith the political parties have invested in the analytical capabilities of various voter targeting databases have actually had on the ground in the local constituencies and whether they really can influence an election result.

Back at the campaign office – a dour-looking pebble-dashed building behind a plumber's shop with a few bright orange election posters in the window – the answer is perhaps obvious. Upstairs the 'high-tech' hub is two desks with a PC, printer, fax machine and phone and a couple of laptops.

About 10 to 15 election campaign queries come in each day for Clegg – who is sat bashing out his daily blog for the Guardian's website – and about the same number of queries by phone.

The key tool at the disposal of the campaign team is the central Liberal Democrat database, EARS, which can be accessed at the PC. EARS contains an upload of the electoral register which the party then adds locally gathered information to, such as records of when they last canvassed a person.

That can then be used for the targeting of election literature to be mailed out or pushed through letterboxes. One mailshot was sent to women in the constituency outlining the party's policies that affect women, while another one was sent to elderly people.

Richard Allan, who is stepping down as MP for the area and is in charge of Clegg's campaign, says there is an algorithm that can spot likely names of elderly people, such as Elsie or Florence.

But it is clear the work that really makes a difference on the ground in those four intense weeks of campaigning is done by an army of a couple of hundred activists and volunteers who deliver leaflets and canvass voters on the doorstep and over the telephone. And there's even someone responsible for all the posters and getting people to put the placards up in the garden.

"There is still an appetite for traditional electioneering," says Allan.

By the end of the campaign the 32,000 households in the constituency will have each received six leaflets from the party.

Downstairs during lunch the banter is of demob happy campaigners in good spirits but ready for some well-earned rest after polling day. As the afternoon leaflet rounds are divvied up there are a few moans from those being sent to the hilly streets in the constituency. "She needs to lose weight anyway," jokes one.

There's a brief moment of excitement when a volunteer bursts through the door with the latest Conservative leaflet to hit doormats. "It's rubbish," declares someone, not surprisingly.

It becomes obvious driving around the constituency that beyond the Lib Dem posters there has been very little activity from the Conservatives who pose the main opposition for the seat. In a picture echoed across the country the election hasn't really come to those constituencies which aren't key marginals for the main two parties.

On election day itself the team will deliver the final few thousand leaflets in the morning and then spend the day helping people get to the polls to vote. But again it's the old-fashioned stuff that matters.

"We hope it is sunny. It still makes a difference of around three to four per cent on turnout but with it being a bank holiday week we think a lot of people are also out of the country," says Allan.

On the evening of the poll Allan will sit in a corner with his Apple iBook updating a spreadsheet with the numbers passed by the Liberal Democrat observers at the count. Once he gets a big enough sample from across the constituency he reckons he can call the result about an hour before it is actually announced.

Interestingly the predictions made during the campaign rarely match the final outcome. "It is hard to tie the result from what we got in canvassing. There is an art to it and all sorts of formulas," says Allan.

The one piece of technology that has made a real difference to campaigners in the constituency is not some vast, expensive database but the humble mobile phone - a lifeline to those who used to spend half an hour delivering leaflets and then another two hours trying to find everyone again.

One of the campaign team jokes about starting planning for the next election on the Friday but the word 'sleeping' in marker pen in the Friday slot on the white planning board gives away the real intentions of most of the team, who expect to spend the night celebrating – a local victory at least – in a Sheffield hotel.

The Sheffield Hallam seat was won in 2001 by the Liberal Democrat MP Richard Allan with a 9,347 majority. Allan is retiring and the seat is being contested this time by candidates from the BNP, Christian Peoples Alliance, Conservatives, Green Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats and UKIP.