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ERS in the Press – April 2019

As we geared up for a big round of local elections in England and Northern Ireland, we’ve been putting reform of Britain’s out-dated politics firmly on the agenda. Fair votes now As the Brexit process...

Posted 01 May 2019

Inside the backbench burial ground of Private Members’ Bills

Most of the legislation that Parliament passes is introduced and backed by the government. But for thirteen Fridays in each parliamentary session, backbenchers steer the agenda. For those days, Private Members’ Bills have precedence over...

Posted 31 Oct 2018

Don’t miss the deadline – make sure you’re registered to vote

In May 2018, there will be elections for all 32 London boroughs, 35 metropolitan boroughs, 74 district/boroughs, and 20 unitary authorities around England. But thousands of people aren’t on the register and won’t be able...

Posted 10 Apr 2018

Doubts over turnout figures could have serious implications

Turnout is a vital measure for understanding our relationship with politics, whether it be low or high. If people do not vote, it tells us they are being failed by politics. If people do vote in large numbers, then it can be argued the Government which emerges after an...

Posted 19 Jan 2018

Closing the registration generation gap

Young voters are in the spotlight this election. Significant gaps in current polling have been explained by differences in how pollsters are measuring youth turnout. Younger electors are also behind the surge in electoral registration....

Posted 06 Jun 2017

The drop in attainers on the electoral roll should worry us all

With a week to go before the cut off for registering to vote for the general election on June 8th, our research has shown that the proportion of school leavers on the electoral roll dropped...

Posted 17 May 2017

Deadline Day: Our Voter Registration System Needs An Overhaul

On the evening of the 7th June last year – just a couple of weeks before the EU referendum – the website to register to vote crashed. Cue havoc, thousands of disappointed and angry people, and...

Posted 13 Apr 2017

Good news on the registration deadline – now let’s fix the system

Yesterday, we won a small but significant victory. After a technical error shut down the voter registration website just before the midnight deadline on Tuesday, around 50,000 people were denied the ability...

Posted 09 Jun 2016

It’s time to talk about automatic voter registration

Today is the deadline to register to vote in the EU referendum. In most of Europe, that concept would be considered strange. Every election we see the same thing: a huge rush to register to...

Posted 07 Jun 2016

Time for a Registration Revolution

Today is National Voter Registration day, launched by our friends at Bite the Ballot. Voter registration is an integral part of our democracy. If you’re not registered you can’t vote. Electoral boundaries are now also drawn based...

Posted 05 Feb 2016