April 2010: Our briefings on legislation
We have set up a permanent archive of briefings we issued to relevant legislation passing through Parliament.
- Click here for briefings on the Political Parties and Elections Bill
- Click here for briefings on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill
3 March 2010: Reports on electoral registration
We have published two reports on electoral registration in Great Britain.
The reports gives a picture of changing trends in registration in Great Britain, including those groups least likely to be registered to vote, and provide an assessment of the performance of Electoral Registration Officers across Great Britain.
- read more about the performance of Electoral Registration Officers against our standards
- read our report on the completeness and accuracy of electoral registers in Great Britain (PDF)
Note: In the version of the report which appeared on the website on 3 March 2010, the canvass response rate data given for East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire was incorrect. The averages given for Scotland and the Scottish Central Belt were also therefore wrong.
This data has now been corrected and any version of the report downloaded since 5pm on 15 March 2010 will contain the correct data.
These changes effected paragraphs 2.18 and 2.19 (p.34-35), as well as Figure 7 and Figure 9.
23 February 2010: Consultation response on proposed changes to the edited electoral register
We have published our response to the Ministry of Justice consultation on Electoral Registers: Proposed Changes to the Edited Register. This consultation considers whether there should continue to be an edited version of the electoral register that can be used for any purpose.
July 2009: The Political Parties and Elections Act
The Political Parties and Elections Act became law in July. It introduces a range of significant changes to how political parties are regulated.
July 2009: Party political broadcasts
We have written to Ofcom setting out our views on proposed changes to its rules on party political and referendum broadcasts.
4 December 2009: Service voters' registration period
We have published our response to the Ministry of Justice consultation on the draft Service Voters' Registration Period Order 2010 (PDF). The Order extends the length of the Service declaration from three to five years.
Electronic counting
We have published our response to the Greater London Returning Officer's (GLRO) Manual Count – vs. – electronic count cost-benefit assessment (PDF).
Our response highlights a number of key principles that should be observed when vote-counting. It also raises concerns about gaps in the GLRO's cost-benefit assessment, which may result in the advantages of e-counting being overstated. While we appreciate the GLRO's desire to undertake a timely tendering process, we would like to see an improved cost-benefit analysis and a number of transparency and other issues addressed before any e-counting contract is awarded.
Read our other statements and responses in the Our views archive
The voting rights of convicted prisoners
We have published our response to the Ministry of Justice consultation on the voting rights of convicted prisons in the UK (PDF). We do not take a view on which prisoners should or should not be able to vote, but focus on how the registration of prisoners could be administered.
We support the Government's position that enfranchised prisoners should register to vote at a previous or intended address via a form of individual registration and that they should be able to vote at all elections and referendums. However, we recommend that prisoners are allowed to vote by proxy as well as by post and seek reassurances that the principle of ballot secrecy will be preserved.
Statement on timing of election counts
We have issued a statement on the timing of election vote counts (PDF).
Statement on Slough case sentencing
We have made a statement on the sentencing of six men for offences relating to the May 2007 election in Slough Central ward. The men were sentenced to a total of over 13 years in prison by Reading Crown Court.
Our response to the Scottish Government's paper - Chief Returning Officer for Scotland
We have recently publish a paper outlining our response to the Scottish Government's consultation paper (PDF).
Weekend voting
We recently published our response to the Ministry of Justice consultation on weekend voting. We recommend that polling day should not at present be moved to the weekend, since there is a lack of clear evidence that it would be of significant benefit to the voter. Weekend voting could also raise a number of potential issues, for example in relation to resources and security.
Our analysis of electoral administration
In our reports on electoral administration published on 27 August we have called for changes to electoral law to make sure future elections are better run. More information is available in our news release calling for clear leadership for elections.
You can read our report for the UK (PDF) and report for Scotland (PDF) here.
Political Parties and Elections Bill
We have published a short statement in response to the Political Parties and Elections Bill, which was introduced to Parliament on 17 July.
This follows the party finance and expenditure White Paper which was published on 16 June, entitled 'Party finance and expenditure in the United Kingdom'. You can read our full response to the White Paper or the short statement in response to the White Paper here.
Electoral administration in the United Kingdom (December 2007)
On 12 December 2007 we published our report Electoral administration in the United Kingdom (PDF).
The report looks at the status of electoral administration in the UK, and highlights a number of challenges that need to be addressed by all involved in the running of elections. This includes ensuring better consistency in electoral law and elections management across the UK, addressing the current funding arrangements and an end to piece-meal changes to electoral law.
In addition we renew our calls for individual voter registration in Great Britain, to replace the current system of household registration.
As a result of this report we will now be undertaking a detailed examination of the structure of electoral administration in the UK, with a view to publishing options for reform by the summer of 2008.
Taking forward the recommendations in the ‘Gould report’
We have published our views regarding the ‘Gould report’ on the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary and local government elections and set out the ways in which we plan to take forward the recommendations in the report.
- view the ways in we plan to take forward Mr Gould's recommendations (PDF)
- read Mr Gould's report into the Scottish elections, published on 23 October 2007 (PDF)
Response to the Constitutional Affairs Committee report on party funding
We have published our response to the Constitutional Affairs Committee report on party funding, which was published in December 2006 and makes a number of recommendations for changes to the UK party funding system and its regulation.
Our key focus in responding to the Committee’s recommendations has been to outline how, in undertaking our role as the regulator of party and election finance, we can be most effective in the future.
We are pleased with the extent to which our approach is in line with the recommendations of not only the Constitutional Affairs Committee but also the recent recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and Sir Hayden Phillips. These reports have also set us challenges and we are confident of our ability to meet them. Indeed, we have already taken steps to ensure a pro-active and robust regulatory approach, and will continue to do so to ensure we are as effective as possible.
- view the Constitutional Affairs Committee report on party funding (PDF)
- view our esponse to the Constitutional Affairs Committee report on party funding (PDF)
We welcome party funding report by Sir Hayden Phillips
Commenting on the report Strengthening Democracy: Fair and Sustainable Funding of Political Parties published by Sir Hayden Phillips, Sam Younger, our Chairman, said:
‘We welcome Sir Hayden Phillips' report, which is an important contribution to the debate on party funding. In our own discussions with Sir Hayden we agreed with his analysis that there are significant challenges ahead which require a renewed approach to regulating party and election finance. We are clear about the need for the Electoral Commission, as the regulator, to be as effective as possible. We are already reinforcing this, and will be ready to implement whatever changes are agreed following the discussion which we, like Sir Hayden, hope will take place quickly following today's report.’
