Articles by Doug Cowan

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Doug Cowan, Head of Digital

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Over 100 seats haven’t changed hands for 100 years or more

We often hear that politics is unpredictable, that anything can happen in the upcoming election – but the reality is that hundreds of seats across the country haven’t changed hands in decades. While the MP...

Posted 03 Jun 2024

Were you alive the last time your seat changed hands

England’s local elections show the warped world of First Past the Post

Local people are best placed to decide the priorities of their local government. But as we say today, voters in England and Wales have very little impact on who sits in their local council chambers....

Posted 03 May 2024

When the results don’t look anything like how we vote, how are we supposed to hold councils to account

Who invented the Single Transferable Vote?

The Electoral Reform Society has long held up the Single Transferable Vote as the gold standard for proportional representation. It’s a way of electing our representatives that produces a proportional chamber, and hands power to...

Posted 06 Mar 2024

We have long held up the Single Transferable Vote (STV) as the gold standard for proportional representation

Vote splitting trick won’t work with Scotland’s Single Transferable Vote

On March 7th voters in Hillhead in Glasgow will be heading to the polls for a council by-election. Among those standing are candidates from the Scottish Greens and Independent Green Voice (IGV) – plenty of...

Posted 04 Mar 2024

Independent Green Voice is far from what you might expect from the name

Change to London mayoral elections complicates thinking for independent candidates

Over the weekend The Sun reported on rumours that Paul Scully MP, the former Conservative Minister for London, was considering running as an independent candidate for London mayor. We can’t comment on whether these Tory...

Posted 05 Feb 2024

The Sun reported on rumours that Paul Scully MP, was considering running as an independent

Electoral Commission chair calls out government on voter ID and finance loopholes

In a recent, wide-ranging, interview with the Financial Times, John Pullinger, the chair of the Electoral Commission, expressed concerns about the government’s voter ID scheme and the threat to the Commission’s independence contained in the...

Posted 25 Jan 2024

We should be building barriers to suspicious money, not the ballot box

Changing boundaries shouldn’t change election results

For the past 30 years, political scientists Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher have been investigating how new boundaries will impact the political makeup of Parliament. Whenever new constituency maps are designed, they estimate what the...

Posted 16 Jan 2024

Shouldn’t MPs win or lose their seats based on voters changing their minds

The top 5 most-read ERS articles from 2023

Every year we have a look through the stats to see which of our articles were the most popular with readers in the year coming to a close. So if you missed them the first...

Posted 14 Dec 2023

Strong government vs good government? First Past the Post means our governments will always fail to deliver

Government failures are always in the news, but we rarely question why it is that our governments often seem so wholly incapable of delivering on their objectives. It’s easy to point at individual ministers and...

Posted 30 Nov 2023

Governments often seem wholly incapable of delivering on their objectives

24 years ago the Greater London Authority Act gained royal assent

This weekend (11th November) marks the 24th anniversary of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 gaining royal assent. The Greater London Authority, comprising the Mayor of London and the London Assembly, was first elected in...

Posted 10 Nov 2023