Westminster’s voting system is bankrupt. It’s time for proportional representation Millions of voters unrepresented. An unjust majority on a minority of the vote. And nearly one in three forced to vote ‘tactically’. Westminster’s voting system is not just bust. It’s bankrupt, decrepit, discredited. We’ve been... Posted 13 Dec 2019
How the 2019 election results could have looked with proportional representation Ever wondered how the 2019 General Election result would have come out with a form of proportional representation? The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a form of proportional representation used in Northern Ireland for all... Posted 13 Dec 2019
Parties respond to ERS call to make electoral reform a priority after the election Earlier this week, the ERS wrote to all the main parties in Britain, calling for them to make proportional representation a number one priority in any cross-party talks or in government. The ERS has received... Posted 11 Dec 2019
Three ways Westminster’s voting system has skewed the election – before a single vote is cast Though we are still a couple of days away from knowing the outcome of the general election, the campaign has already exposed the worst flaws of the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system. In... Posted 10 Dec 2019
14 Million Voters Are In Seats That Haven’t Changed Hands Since WW2. Here’s Why Nearly 14 million voters are in seats that have not changed party hands since the Second World War, according to new research by the Electoral Reform Society. Taking into account equivalent predecessor seats, some seats have... Posted 09 Dec 2019
What can we learn from Canada’s Leaders’ Debate Commission? This election’s televised leaders debates have taken place against a backdrop of endless rows over who should be allowed to take part, in what has become a recurring feature of our election campaigns. Arguments over... Posted 04 Dec 2019
Is this the ‘hold your nose’ election? Record-breaking numbers set to vote tactically Polling from BMG research for the Electoral Reform Society has revealed that a record-breaking 30% of the public plan to vote ‘tactically’ in the next General Election. Tactical voting occurs when voters choose the best-positioned... Posted 04 Dec 2019
Democracy Day: On December 5th, it’s time to break the silence on political reform Few would say with honesty that Westminster is working. So it’s time to talk about how to change it. The Electoral Reform Society – along with other democracy organisations – are calling for December 5th... Posted 02 Dec 2019
Google starts to open up on political ads – but who’s setting the rules? New rules have just come into force at Google, banning political ads which target the public based on their political affiliations. (Targeting on the basis of age, gender and general location will be allowed to... Posted 26 Nov 2019
The quest for fairer voting The first recorded election under a proportional representation (PR) system took place on 17 December 1819, when the Birmingham Society for Scientific and Literary Improvement elected their Committee using new rules invented by one of... Posted 26 Nov 2019