The UK heads to the polls for the 2024 elections soon. The rules have changed since the last general election with Voter ID introduced, more eligible overseas electors and the independence of Electoral Commission reduced.

What could a future (2029?) general election look like? A picture of utopian democracy? Or a dystopia of flawed electoral rules and misinformation. An AI generated version above gives one perception. But it has lots of typical-AI related flaws.

A better idea is to look at what are parties promising in their manifestos. Below is a table of the party manifestos. The incumbent Conservatives have no real promises to changes elections in the future, having recently implemented their 2019 manifesto commitments on voter identification and other reforms. By contrast, a future Labour government could bring radical changes with the franchise being lowered to 16 and major reforms hinted at on voter registration.

The Liberal Democrats have the most to say about how elections should be changed. Their proposed reforms include changes to the electoral system itself, in addition to the reforms proposed by Labour. All EU citizens with settled status would be able to vote in future elections, should they have their wat. They are also much more explicit about the case for addressing the role of money in elections.

The Greens and Reform have much less to say about how elections should be changed – but both are calling for proportional representation for the House of Commons. Here Labour and the Conservatives are sticking to the system which has brought them majorities in the past. If the electoral system does bring about a landslide for one party based on a small vote share, we can expect electoral system reform to be a key demand from Lib Dem, Green and Reform MPs in the next Parliament – and a major subject of discussion.

It is worth noting that UK general elections are good – but not perfect. Data from the Electoral Integrity Project shows that the areas of weakness are in laws, finance voter registration.