US election: Why 33 states have had no presidential campaign events at all FairVote’s Benjamin Oestericher explains how America’s first past the post style electoral college makes vast swathes of the country an electoral desert. This map, designed by FairVote, displays the geographic composition of 2020 campaign events... Posted 30 Oct 2020
Westminster could learn a lot from the Australian Capital Territory Could Australia’s capital show the rest of Australia and Westminster how to be fairer and more representative? Posted 21 Oct 2020
Does PR mean coalitions? As New Zealand shows – it’s all down to the voters The New Zealand Labour party are celebrating a landslide win, with 49 percent of the vote and enough MPs to form a single-party government on their own. This is the first time since New Zealand... Posted 20 Oct 2020
Early voting doesn’t have to mean long queues Two news stories stood out this week. As early voting opened in some US states, images of voters queuing all day to vote were greeted as signs of enthusiasm in America but confusion outside, while... Posted 15 Oct 2020
New Zealand’s MMP electoral system: how does it work? New Zealand actor Jack Buchanan explains how MMP works in this music video created in partnership with the New Zealand Electoral Commission. Politics in New Zealand can look to outsiders to be much like politics... Posted 14 Oct 2020
Are Guernsey about to hold the strangest election in the world? On 7 October, voters in Guernsey will head to the polls for what is likely to be the ‘strangest [election] in the world’. For the first time, the vote will be held across one island-wide constituency which will see... Posted 06 Oct 2020
ERS in the Press – September 2020 As the government continues to implement new restrictions to fight the second wave of coronavirus, the cracks in Britain’s political system continue to grow behind the curtain. In September we released new research on party... Posted 02 Oct 2020
Parties have become even more secretive about their online campaigning Openness and transparency are the key foundations of any democracy. But today we find too much of our politics is shrouded in secrecy. Too often voters remain unsure about who is behind the messages they... Posted 29 Sep 2020
Paying the price of First Past the Post – Towns Fund millions spent on marginal seats There is no better way of finding out which voters matter under Westminster’s warped electoral system than looking at where your taxes are funnelled to. The government’s £3.9bn Towns Fund was heralded as the way... Posted 25 Sep 2020
Campaigners unite to urge Labour party to back proportional representation A major new project has been launched to encourage the Labour party to back proportional representation. Posted 22 Sep 2020