News and Comment

The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.

Around the World | Current Affairs Commentary | Developments at the ERS | Your Questions Answered | Case Studies

View by category

View by date

Why our next General Election will be an unfair lottery

Over the past century, our society and democracy have been transformed almost beyond recognition. As voting habits have changed, one thing becoming increasingly clear: Westminster’s voting system of First Past the Post fails time and...

Posted 21 Oct 2019

It’s time to move to a voting system fit for the 21st century

Dark ads and dodgy donors: How the Queen’s Speech missed a chance to protect our democracy

There was a conspicuous silence in the Queen’s Speech on Monday. Despite announcing a bill to protect ‘electoral integrity’ (by making it harder for us all to vote), there was inaction on updating Britain’s outdated...

Posted 18 Oct 2019

In Wales, votes at 16 is one step closer to reality

As the Welsh Assembly takes a historic step towards extending voting to 16 and 17-year-olds in Wales, Daniel Priestley – Law Student at Cardiff University currently on placement with the Electoral Reform Society shares how the...

Posted 17 Oct 2019

Voter ID checks threaten to suppress voter rights ‘on industrial scale’

The Windrush scandal showed what can happen when millions of people who lack ID are shut out by Government. But the announcement in the Queen’s Speech proposing mandatory voter ID checks means there’s a risk of repeating those...

Posted 15 Oct 2019

The movement for an overhaul of Britain’s broken constitution is growing

On Sunday, former Brexit Secretary David Davis wrote an important piece in the Times arguing that ‘Brexit is the writing on the wall for our democracy’. He points out that recent constitutional chaos has shown...

Posted 10 Oct 2019

Tiny shifts in votes can upset an avalanche of seats, with no relation between the national vote and number of seats won

Campaigners are stepping up calls for a ‘Constitutional Convention’ on Britain’s democracy

Whichever side of the Brexit debate people are on, one feeling is clear: voters feel disenfranchised and frustrated at Westminster’s chaotic handling of the Brexit process. One result of the suspension of Parliament in September...

Posted 09 Oct 2019

The gentlemen’s agreements that have propped up how Parliament works have totally broken down

There’s a glaring threat facing the next General Election: the ‘missing millions’

You don’t have to opt in to your right to free speech. So why do we have to opt in to our right to vote? Voting is a basic right. While not enough on its...

Posted 07 Oct 2019

A tale of two local by-elections: how STV produces fairer outcomes

On Thursday 3rd October, as on most Thursdays, several local authority by-elections took place throughout Britain. These by-elections occur when a vacancy arises due to a local councillor resigning or passing away. Two of Thursday’s...

Posted 04 Oct 2019

Under STV, 71% of voters saw a candidate elected who they had given their first-preference vote t

London mayoral race: Will Rory Stewart’s candidacy ‘split’ the Conservative vote?

If there is one thing you can predict about politics these days, it’s that you can’t predict anything. In the space of a few months, Rory Stewart has gone from running for leadership of the...

Posted 04 Oct 2019

If neither get into the second round, all their votes will be wasted

At our Lib Dem fringe, panelists looked at future proofing our campaigning laws

With proportional representation a long-term policy of the Liberal Democrats, we took the opportunity to discuss the wider crisis in our democracy at the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Bournemouth this year. As the possibility...

Posted 03 Oct 2019