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English Local Democracy

England’s previous local elections show what’s wrong with our voting system

Time and time again, England’s local elections repeatedly produce results that simply don’t reflect how people vote. If you live...

Holyrood’s voting system wants you to be represented in Parliament
ERS Scotland

How Scotland’s Holyrood elections work will work this May

The 2024 General Election in Scotland was a one-sided affair. Scottish Labour won 35.3% of the vote in Scotland and...

Compulsory voting would treat the symptoms not the cause
Polling Day

We should fix our voting system, not force people to use it

This week, the Telegraph has published an article debating the merits of compulsory voting. Partly inspired by the approaching first...

There is only a 15-point gap between the 1st and 5th placed parties
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Polling breakdown from March 2026: Latest polls see continued fragmentation

Since February 2025, we at the Electoral Reform Society have been collecting data on UK general election voting intention polls...

Wales has 16 new constituencies, each one electing six Members of the Senedd
ERS Cymru

There is a new way of voting at the Senedd election this May. How does it work?

Whatever happens in May, the next Senedd election is set to be historic. For instance, recent polling has pointed to...

9.1% of voting age Americans lack ready access to a document proving citizenship
Voter ID

While the UK is making voting more accessible, the US is cracking down

Currently, the UK is reassessing our restrictive voter ID laws. The Representation of the People Bill, if passed, would see...

The case for examining First Past the Posts role is growing
Electoral Reform in Westminster

Former Prime Minister John Major questions the ‘validity’ of First Past the Post

There has been a significant intervention in the debate around electoral reform recently, in the guise of former Prime Minister...

The government must go further and bring in a cap on how much all donors can give to a party
Money in Politics

Government to cap overseas donations and stop crypto donations

Today we welcomed the review by Philip Rycroft into countering foreign financial influence and interference in UK politics. The review...

We need to shift the balance closer to 50:50, to allow the ‘top-up’ to do its job.
ERS Scotland

Scotland’s Parliament still has too much First Past the Post

When the Scottish Parliament was created, it was built to be different to Westminster. A system designed to reflect how...

Democratic renewal in Portugal requires reforming how representatives are elected
Electoral Reform in Westminster

The electoral reform Portugal needs

Nearly fifty years after the transition to democracy, Portugal’s electoral system for its national parliament (the Assembleia da República) has...

First Past the Post is increasingly failing to deliver for voters
Electoral Reform in Westminster

We were asked to address MPs on the Representation of the People Bill committee

This week MPs sitting on the Representation of the People Bill committee took evidence before the bill starts committee stage...

Candidates need to be able to communicate with voters
Campaign Regulation

Is it possible to opt out of political leaflets through the letterbox?

Written by Thomas Worth In the months leading up to elections, voters are often inundated with all sorts of literature...