The number of people on the UK electoral register has been in long-term decline. It was estimated that up to 7.5 million people were not registered in 2014. At the end of the transition to individual electoral registration, there are another 1.4 million fewer names on the register. Dramatically, the number of attainers, our…Read more New report: Getting the missing millions back on the electoral register
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Individual Electoral Registration Survey
I have recently sent out a survey to electoral officials in local government to try to assess the full effects of individual electoral registration in Britain. The questions posed are based on statements from interviews with electoral officials in 2011 about what they thought the effects would be. The aim is to see whether what was…Read more Individual Electoral Registration Survey
The Political Leaders books: in The Times Top 6 best politics books & a Cambridge Workshop
Our British Leaders books, published earlier in the year, made The Times Top 6 politics books of 2015, it was announced last weekend. I recently gave a talk which explained the method we used to assess political leaders at Churchill College, University of Cambridge. The video is below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h02ETZAkd74
The electoral register is the problem, not electoral fraud
Electoral fraud isn't the biggest problem at British polling stations..... it’s the electoral register Last week Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, claimed that electoral fraud is a 'growing phenomena' in British elections. It is a problem, he suggested, that was predominantly 'where there are high levels of inhabitants from a community in which there is a tradition…Read more The electoral register is the problem, not electoral fraud
How to improve electoral management
International IDEA and the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network have just published my case study on how to improve electoral management. The article from my research on the use of performance standards in the UK. It suggests that many electoral practitioners worldwide should consider using a similar scheme to improve the conduct of elections Both established and emerging…Read more How to improve electoral management
British Leaders Book Series launched at the House of Commons
Last week we launched a book series on British party leaders at the House of Commons, published with Biteback. John Bercow kindly hosted the event in his State Office. The three books, of which I co-edit two, all focus on the issue of how to assess party leaders. Jim Buller and I provide a chapter…Read more British Leaders Book Series launched at the House of Commons
Five tests for Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn was emphatically elected as the next leader of the Labour Party at the weekend. In a blog in the Huffington Post last week, I suggest that he, as with any Labour Leader, faces five key tests: 'Selecting a replacement for Ed Miliband has turned into an existential moment for the Labour Party, and…Read more Five tests for Jeremy Corbyn
Is the UK general election running smoothly
I have posted a blog on Eastminster: Toby James provides updates on some of the problems that voters have experienced casting their ballot at the 2015 UK General Election (the blog will be updated during the day). The general election is underway and the polls are open. It is predicted to be a tightly fought…Read more Is the UK general election running smoothly
International electoral observers at the UK 2015 general election
As scholars such as Susan Hyde have documented, it is now an international norm for national elections to be observed by overseas government officials and international organisations. Even governments that intend to deliberately manipulate the electoral process, counter-intuitively, invite electoral observers to document the quality of election. Election observation was once limited to newer democracies…Read more International electoral observers at the UK 2015 general election
The future of UK electoral administration
I was delighted to be invited to give the Opening Speech at the Association of Electoral Administrators conference in Brighton on Sunday night. The topic of my talk was ‘From here to where? Modernisation of electoral administration in Britain.’ Elections receive widespread coverage in the news and media. Many (normal) people will already be fed…Read more The future of UK electoral administration
Toby S. James 