Articles and Insights

Accessible commentary and insights from the Electoral Reform Society, on the issues shaping our democracy.

Featured Articles Latest Insights Polling & Public Opinion The Basics of First Past the Post Speaking up for Voters How our Country Works Global Perspectives

Featured Articles

The main stories selected by the Electoral Reform Society's team.

House of Lords

The end of the Hereditary Peerage: A long campaign and an important victory

March 11, 2026

We saw a big victory last night as the bill to remove the last hereditary peers from the House of Lords finally passed. The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill means the remaining 84 hereditary peers will no longer have the automatic right to sit in the upper chamber for life, influencing the laws we all live under, purely due to who their parents were.

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Progress must not stall here
Electoral Reform in Westminster

The Representation of the People Bill moves democracy forward – but more progress is needed

March 5, 2026

At the Electoral Reform Society, we believe democracy is never a finished project. Something so hard won requires constant attention, updating and improvement if it is to remain healthy.

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House of Lords

How can someone be removed from the House of Lords?

February 4, 2026

When peers make headlines for the wrong reasons, the same question inevitably arises: how do you actually remove someone from the House of Lords? The answer reveals a troubling truth about accountability in our democracy.

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Electoral Reform in Westminster

Business leaders make the case for electoral reform

January 19, 2026

We saw a significant intervention in the debate around electoral reform last week. More than 20 business leaders, including the chairman of the Virgin Group, Peter Norris, called for Westminster to scrap the failing First Past the Post voting system after the political chaos it has contributed to in recent years.

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Latest Insights

The latest articles and insights from the Electoral Reform Society's team.

This pilot will make voting more convenient and accessible
Polling Day

Early voting trials offer a promising addition to our democracy

March 12, 2026

Written by Thomas Worth While the focus has been on the 30 councils who saw their elections delayed and then...

This is about who has right to shape our laws
House of Lords

Hereditary peer ‘back door’ compromise risks undermining manifesto promise

March 9, 2026

It seems the legislative game of hide and seek around the bill to remove the hereditary peers from the Lords...

The government should not be able to instruct the people trying to referee its re-election
Campaign Regulation

Big win as government commits to restoring independence of Electoral Commission

March 4, 2026

We just saw a significant victory when it comes to ensuring the independence of our elections watchdog. It came during...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Latest UK polling: As voters spread their support, our voting system can’t keep up

March 4, 2026

Where elections often used to be a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservatives, voters are now spreading their support...

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Polling & Public Opinion

Analysis of the latest polling from the Electoral Reform Society's research department.

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The Basics of First Past the Post

Discover how we are let down by the way we elect MPs to Westminster.

The majority of people are represented by an MP they didnt want
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Why First Past the Post leaves most of us without voice in parliament

January 15, 2026

We live in a country where each constituency has a single MP. Yet for most people this means the MP...

Why reach out when you can win a majority on just 30 percent of the vote
Electoral Reform in Westminster

How First Past the Post turns politics into tribal warfare

December 10, 2025

Poll after poll and headline after headline in the U.K may leave you with the impression of a country more...

First Past the Post doesn’t care how narrow or extreme a party’s agendas is
Electoral Reform in Westminster

How First Past the Post lets people with fringe views slip through the net

November 13, 2025

Britain’s First Past the Post system was designed for a two-party age. One that pretty much everyone agrees we no...

The real fights aren’t across the floor of the Commons but inside the ruling party itself
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Why single-party governments under First Past the Post fail to get things done

October 29, 2025

For all the talk of “strong government,” the reality of single-party rule under First Past the Post (FPTP) often looks...

Read more on First Past the Post's failings →

Speaking up for Voters

Read the latest articles from the Electoral Reform Society's spokespeople

Darren Hughes

Chief Executive

Jessica Garland

Director of Policy and Research

Jessica Blair

ERS Cymru Director

Willie Sullivan

Senior Director, Campaigns and Scotland

How Our Country Works

Discover how power functions in the UK.

Scotland should look again at how its parliament is elected
Scottish Parliament

Why Holyrood’s voting system still favours larger parties

February 24, 2026

Everyone knows that First Past the Post favours the largest party. At the last Westminster election, Labour managed to turn...

As the electorate increasingly fragments our system is failing to reflect our preferences
Electoral Reform in Westminster

What can the Effective Number of Parties tell us about First Past the Post?

February 19, 2026

Written by Thomas Worth The results of the 2024 General Election were the most disproportional in British political history. The...

When we don't want people to pick up an activity, we don't let them start until they are 18
Votes at 16

Why voting isn’t like drinking or smoking

January 19, 2026

I’m pretty glad that 12-year-olds aren’t allowed to drive buses. We have age restrictions on many things for pretty good...

The majority of people are represented by an MP they didnt want
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Why First Past the Post leaves most of us without voice in parliament

January 15, 2026

We live in a country where each constituency has a single MP. Yet for most people this means the MP...

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Global Perspectives

Discover how countries around the world run their elections.

All 🌍 Australia 🇦🇺 Austria 🇦🇹 Belgium 🇧🇪 Brazil 🇧🇷 Canada 🇨🇦 Denmark 🇩🇰 Estonia 🇪🇪 Fiji 🇫🇯 Finland 🇫🇮 France 🇫🇷 Germany 🇩🇪 Greece 🇬🇷 Guernsey 🇬🇬 Hungary 🇭🇺 India 🇮🇳 Ireland 🇮🇪 Italy 🇮🇹 Jamaica 🇯🇲 Japan 🇯🇵 Jersey 🇯🇪 Latvia 🇱🇻 Lebanon 🇱🇧 Malta 🇲🇹 Netherlands 🇳🇱 New Zealand 🇳🇿 North Korea 🇰🇵 Norway 🇳🇴 Poland 🇵🇱 Portugal 🇵🇹 Romania 🇷🇴 Slovenia 🇸🇮 South Africa 🇿🇦 Sweden 🇸🇪 Switzerland 🇨🇭 Turkey 🇹🇷 United States of America 🇺🇸
Electoral Reform in Westminster

What can the UK learn from California’s Prop 50 gerrymandering plan?

November 5, 2025

A high-stakes fight is underway in the United States over redrawing the constituencies for the House of Representatives in Washington,...

Kamala Harris with a US flag, text overlay reads: “Winner-take-all voting makes most Americans nervous spectators and symbolic participants in their choice of leaders”
Electoral Reform in Westminster

What Kamala Harris’ nomination means for the American party system

August 22, 2024

Rob Richie is the co-founder and senior advisor to FairVote, a sister organisation to the Electoral Reform Society. FairVote is...

Major American cities adopt Proportional Representation
Electoral Reform in Westminster

A wave of cities across the United States switch to fair voting systems

November 11, 2022

This week’s big electoral story is America’s midterm elections and the failure of the predicted ‘Red Wave’ to materialise. However,...

other countries have powerful regional representatives, Britain remains the odd-one-out
House of Lords

How are the members of upper houses chosen around the world?

January 27, 2022

Many countries use a bicameral political system – meaning that they have two chambers in their parliament. These parliaments are...

Preferential voting has become the US' most popular and most bipartisan reform idea
Devolution

As New Yorkers vote in their first preferential primary, in the UK it is under threat

June 25, 2021

Voters in New York City were able to participate in their first preferential voting (called Ranked Choice Voting or RCV...

Five US cities scrap First Past the Post and bring in preferential voting
Campaign Regulation

These US states voted to make elections fairer

November 13, 2020

In the past two weeks, the flaws of the US electoral system have become plain for all to see. As...

Using a passport to vote in the UK
Voter ID

Papers, please: Why the UK must think again before importing US-style voter ID to Britain

November 3, 2020

Voting is a key cornerstone of any democratic system. Just as important are the principles underpinning it: that every vote...

Statue of Liberty
Electoral Reform in Westminster

When it comes to fair votes, the US Senate is ripe for reform

November 2, 2020

If seats are ever to match votes in America, the US will need to look at the distorted Senate. While...

America polling station
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Four ways of electing a president – ranked from worst to best

November 2, 2020

America’s presidential election is the most famous presidential election in the world. The antiquated American system of choosing a president...

Bush and Trump both won elections with fewer votes than their opponent
Electoral Reform in Westminster

How the US’ warped Electoral College means millions of votes make no difference

November 2, 2020

In the last five US elections, two presidents have been summoned to office whilst obtaining fewer votes than their opponent....

Trump
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Could Trump win the Presidency and lose the popular vote again?

October 30, 2020

There have been two ‘wrong winners’ in UK general elections over the last 70 years. In 1951, Labour got more...

America polling station
Electoral Reform in Westminster

US election: Why 33 states have had no presidential campaign events at all

October 30, 2020

FairVote’s Benjamin Oestericher explains how America’s first past the post style electoral college makes vast swathes of the country an...

America polling station
Electoral Reform in Westminster

How the Democrats could win the popular vote but not control of the House

November 6, 2018

Brenda from Bristol famously cried “not another one!” at the news that we were to hold an election in 2017,...

Maine ranked choice voting
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Maine makes history as first state to back fair votes

November 9, 2016

As the world analyses the result of the US Presidential election, there’s one result you might have missed. On Tuesday...

Trump
Electoral Reform in Westminster

How Trump could win the Presidency even if he doesn’t win the most votes

November 8, 2016

It’s election day in the United States, and that means all the pageantry and spectacle one comes to expect with...

Statue of Liberty
Local democracy

PR across the pond: the push for fair votes in the US

October 11, 2016

This week is European Local Democracy Week 2016, and to mark it, we’re running a series of discussion articles on how...

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