Welcome to Your Vote Week – Raising young people’s political awareness This week is Welcome to Your Vote Week, a campaign by the Electoral Commission to spark campaigners across the UK to speak to students in schools and raise young people’s political awareness. Amidst a global... Posted 02 Feb 2023
Government plans heading for trouble as just 10,000 people apply for government-issued voter ID Evidence is building that the Government’s flagship voter ID policy is heading for failure and election day chaos in May as millions still lack the necessary ID to vote on election day. Last month polling... Posted 01 Feb 2023
We told the Welsh Government our suggestions for how to remove barriers to voting Since elections were devolved to Wales in the Wales Act 2017 there have been a lot of changes for Welsh democracy. We’ve seen the extension of the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds and... Posted 31 Jan 2023
All the ways the government decided not to make their voter ID rules fairer This May, millions of people will be asked to bring photo ID to the polling station for the first time. We’ve raised concerns that the list of ID options published by the government gives few... Posted 23 Jan 2023
£5.6 million to promote voter ID website that wasn’t live yet We told the government that voter ID was a costly distraction. First, it was £55m for new A4 polling cards and envelopes. Then cash-strapped councils were forced to spend £1.3m on thousands of mirrors and... Posted 10 Jan 2023
The top 5 most-read ERS articles from 2022 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 15 Dec 2022
Brown Commission reforms offer first blueprint for much-needed democratic renewal Gordon Brown has now released A New Britain: Renewing our Democracy and Rebuilding our Economy – the findings of his Commission into how to repair our political system. In publishing this report, Keir Starmer is... Posted 06 Dec 2022
Ed Davey – Let’s make the next general election the last fought under First Past the Post This week we supported a panel with Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey, as part of a rescheduled conference event. The ERS attends all the major party conferences, but this year’s Liberal Democrat conference was cancelled... Posted 01 Dec 2022
Voter ID list gives few options for younger voters Long-awaited details of the government’s voter ID scheme have now finally been released including details of which IDs will be accepted at the polling station. With no alternatives for voters who turn up on the... Posted 11 Nov 2022
Don’t miss one of Scotland’s leading political experts in new annual lecture ERS Scotland is hosting the inaugural State of Scottish Democracy lecture next week. The event takes place on Thursday 17th November, in Govan’s Pearce Institute, and will be addressed by Professor James Mitchell. The idea... Posted 11 Nov 2022