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

A new Office for Responsible Technology

Jacob Ohrvik-Stott, Researcher for Doteveryone, an independent think tank championing responsible technology for a fairer future, contributed this piece for our report Reining in the Political ‘Wild West’: Campaign Rules for the 21st Century.  The...

Posted 19 Feb 2019

office of responsible technology

Increasing the resilience of our democracy against misinformation

Cassie Staines, Senior Policy Officer at the independent fact-checking charity Full-Fact contributed this piece to our report Reining in the Political ‘Wild West’: Campaign Rules for the 21st Century.  There is a moral panic about ‘fake news’...

Posted 17 Feb 2019

quick solutions

Avoiding America’s mega-spending election model

Kyle Taylor, Founder and Director of Fair Vote Project contributed this piece to our report Reining in the Political ‘Wild West’: Campaign Rules for the 21st Century.  If you are interested in a preview of what British...

Posted 16 Feb 2019

keep big money out of politics

The legal landscape: Micro-targeted politics and big data

Bethany Shiner, Lecture in Law, Middlesex University, London contributed this piece to our report Reining in the Political ‘Wild West’: Campaign Rules for the 21st Century.  The evolution of data-driven political campaigning has spawned an entire industry...

Posted 15 Feb 2019

mechanisms of manipulation

Empowering the regulators: Four proposals for change

Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon and member of the Brexit Select Committee contributed this piece for our report Reining in the Political ‘Wild West’: Campaign Rules for the 21st Century.  Our democracy is crumbling. The EU...

Posted 14 Feb 2019

APPG on campaigns transparency

The risks of not reforming our electoral law

Martin Moore, Director of the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power, and a Senior Research Fellow in the Policy Institute at King’s College London and Damian Tambini, Associate Professor in the Department...

Posted 13 Feb 2019

ICO investigation

How to improve voters’ confidence in democracy

Tom Hawthorn, Head of Policy at the Electoral Commission contributed this article for our recent report Reining in the Political ‘Wild West’: Campaign Rules for the 21st Century. Not so long ago, election campaigning was all...

Posted 12 Feb 2019

Sanctions should deter breaches