Tag: Electoral reform

For once, I agree with Luke Akehurst

jkitleft Thu Oct 02, 2008 at 09:05:26 PM GMT Facebook

I love it when I hear New Labourists explain why they would never EVER support the Conservative Party.

My personal opinion about David Cameron, is that he is a hard-right demagogic charlatan. When people say that he has no substance, I wholeheartedly disagree. His policies are the very reason why we joined the Labour party in the first place (don't get me started on marriage incentives for instance, is the first thing a mum of two kids who has recently lost her husband to a car bomb in Basra will be hit with, is a tax hike?)

Record public consultation response

malcolmclark Sat Sep 27, 2008 at 12:02:35 AM GMT Facebook

On the day the Government's public consultation on weekend voting closed, it has been revealed that this has been the number one Governance of Britain consultation the Ministry of Justice has received correspondence on.

The vast majority of people responding have pinpointed the current system for electing MPs as a key barrier to voting. Many have been saying it doesn't matter which day of the week an election is held on, if your vote doesn't stand much of a chance of affecting the result there may be little incentive to actually vote at all.

The Ministry of Justice should not be surprised at the level of interest sparked in this debate or the messages coming from members of the public. In their own Governance of Britain local engagement events, the MoJ reports hearing exactly the same points.

So let's not take the fatalistic attitude I heard so much at Conference of "you're right about electoral reform, but it's too late. We can't do anything now. End of story." There are plenty of people who still want to see progress on this issue - both inside the party and wider. There may no longer be the time to deliver anything before the next election, but the least we can do is keep on thinking and discussing and looking at what the possibilities for progress are.

That way we stand a minor chance of avoiding what Robin Cook warned us of: finding ourselves back in a long period of opposition to a Conservative government elected on a minority share of the vote; and wishing we had changed the voting system when we had the opportunity.

Weekend, Deadend,

malcolmclark Sat Sep 13, 2008 at 08:37:44 PM GMT Facebook

The Ministry of Justice is consulting on whether to move to weekend voting, as a way of increasing turnout. They want to know what are the barriers to voting. To me, it doesn't matter which day of the week an election is held on, as if your vote doesn't stand much of a chance of counting there may be little incentive to actually vote at all. Along with all the other reasons - and there are many factors involved - the electoral system is undoubtably a significant one.

Handily, there is a open-ended final question on the consultation where this type of argument can be made. There's a website www.makevotescount.org.uk set up especially to respond to this specific part of the consultation.

As this is an official consultation, all the responses get logged, summarised and reported back - within Government and publicly. To give you some context, the MoJ received less a thousand separate responses in total to all their past Governance of Britain consultations (war powers, attorney general, flag flying, managing protest around Parliament). So it is defnitely worth submitting something.

The American reality is currently only a dream

malcolmclark Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 11:21:46 AM GMT Facebook

A copy of 'America goes to the polls - a report (pdf) on voter turnout in the 2008 Presidential Primary' has just landed in my inbox. As might be expected, there are some real wow stats:

1) More than one in four of all eligible voters participated in a primary or caucus. This is a rate not seen since 1972, when the voting age was lowered to 18.

2) Voter participation in Democratic primaries was up 112% and caucuses by 223% compared to 2004 - ie.the turnout in Democratic primaries doubled and tripled in the caucuses.

3) Youth participation rose at a faster rate than any other age group. Turnout by voters ages 18-29 went up for the third consecutive national election year (2004 and 2006).

But alongside these startling facts, there is a salient message: besides competitive elections (which are very important) or the date of the primary (weekday / weekend), a number of factors influenced voter turnout. Election Day Registration and Early Voting most likely contributed to higher turnout in many states.

Let's play by Aussie Rules: Labour calls for AV

oratorhunt Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 11:38:40 AM GMT Facebook

Peter Hain will lead the call for Britain to switch to the Austrialian-style system of AV for the primary chamber - combined with a reformed upper chamber to be elected by PR - in an address to the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform later today..

Weekend Voting?

oratorhunt Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 02:40:35 PM GMT Facebook

So Michael Wills has launched a consultation into the possibility of shifting the day of elections from a Thursday to the weekend, in the latest wheeze to get more people to turnout at the polls.

50 States not 42 Days

malcolmclark Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 06:57:00 PM GMT Facebook

This is a theme I intend to explore over the coming months. It's about how to expand the electoral map; about how to build up the party base and win down-ticket races; about how to encourage more people to turn out to vote and be convinced that they have a stake in the political system. Its about all of those things and more.

In the American context, the 50 State strategy / campaign was first raised by Howard Dean and is now taken on by Obama, who has just promised to open up campaign offices in every single state. As Kos explains:

"It doesn't mean Obama will win 50 states, obviously. But it does mean a commitment to 1) an expanded presidential battleground, 2) long-term party building, and 3) attention to the down-ballot races that will ultimately decide whether the Obama Agenda will see the light of day. The more seats Obama's Democratic Party can amass in the House and in the Senate, the stronger his influence and the bolder his legislation can be. In other words, this is much bigger than the presidential race, and I'm extremely encouraged that a presidential campaign has decided to take such a broad approach to these coming elections."

AV: No referendum necessary

oratorhunt Thu Jun 05, 2008 at 11:39:37 AM GMT Facebook

First posted on Progress blog:

Straw heralds AV for Commons

NorthernMonkey Mon Mar 24, 2008 at 06:27:53 PM GMT Facebook

The Guardian's leader this morning observes that finally after 11 years, the government might be getting serious on constitutional reform.

Is it now time for electoral reform?

alexhilton Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:35:36 PM GMT Facebook

Justice Minister Michael Wills tomorrow publishes a review of electoral systems. Given the possibility of a hung parliament after the next election, this document is likely to be a carefully worded paper, holding the door open to the LibDems. But is this report just a tantalising fruit to dangle before the minority party or will concrete proposals emerge?

Building the Progressive Consensus

Radford Mann Sat Nov 17, 2007 at 03:16:17 PM GMT Facebook

Last night the good folk of the East Midlands gathered in Nottingham for a Compass event on building the progressive consensus. A high class panel of Ed Miliband, Hilary Wainwright and John Harris, ably chaired by academic Ruth Lister were on hand to discuss all and sundry.

My speech from the Progress conference this afternoon...

davidrowntree Sat Nov 03, 2007 at 06:41:50 PM GMT Facebook

Thanks very much for asking me to speak today. I often wonder what people think I'm going to say when they invite me to things like this, but in my experience, you invite a drummer to a party when you want someone to throw the TV out of the window.

So...

The title of the session is “can we make the Labour Party relevant again”. Well I think it's part of a much wider problem. People don't think political parties are relevant because they don't think politics in general is relevant. Politics got stuck somewhere around 1850, while the country has moved on.

Domestic violence and politics

alexhilton Tue Sep 25, 2007 at 12:41:33 AM GMT Facebook

As you may be aware, an MP is currently on bail, having been arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife. While I don't wish to dwell on that specifically in this forum, it has been on my mind.

More on Electoral Reform

alexhilton Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 05:03:24 PM GMT Facebook

This is a bit of a follow up to Mike Ion's post of compulsory voting. Between mandatory voting, all woman shortlists, PR and votes at sixteen, there doesn't seem to be much room for further innovation in electoral reform - but there are a few ideas I'd like tested at local government level to see if they are popular.

Principles for sale

alexhilton Thu Sep 13, 2007 at 02:53:43 PM GMT Facebook

I have written this piece on the Guardian's Commentisfree on electoral reform and the possibility of coalition with the Liberals.

£50 blogging prize

alexhilton Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 11:57:30 AM GMT Facebook

I have just done a job for the Electoral Reform Society on a new website, www.a-fresh-start.org.uk. The site promotes electoral reform of the House of Commons. If you write a piece here on Labourhome or elsewhere that promotes electoral reform, register it on the www.a-fresh-start.org.uk site and you could win a £50 prize, which is being given away fortnightly.

Event: Electoral Reform in Labour's History

oratorhunt Wed Jun 20, 2007 at 03:51:27 PM GMT Facebook

We warmly invite you to a special event being organised to coincide with the forthcoming Labour leadership announcement conference in Manchester on June 24

The People’s History Museum – in association with the Electoral Reform Society – will be offering visitors the opportunity to attend a special opening of its “Battle of the Ballot” exhibition, which explores the history of popular struggle for democratic rights in Britain.

Making Labour's case for the South

malcolmclark Fri May 25, 2007 at 11:46:42 AM GMT Facebook

John Denham's Fabian Society lecture on 'Southern Discomfort Revisited' provides some great material for debate within Labour - especially in southern England. Full transcript is here. John argued that Labour cannot comfortably govern the UK as a whole without a significant southern presence. I have listed some of the key points he made, including (bottom paragraph) why electoral reform is essential. On my own blog, I have also added comments made by Tony Travers, about how the changed political circumstances / culture mean the electoral pendulum may no longer swing back once a party has lost its base in a particular area - whether that be the Tories in certain northern cities or Labour in parts of the south / south-west.

Brown reignites electoral reform debate

alexhilton Mon May 14, 2007 at 04:31:37 PM GMT Facebook

Unfair elections on the agenda for new premiership as Labour Leadership frontrunner Gordon Brown comes out in favour of electoral reform. (from an Electoral Reform Society press release)

News from the Electoral Reform Society

alexhilton Tue May 01, 2007 at 05:26:22 PM GMT Facebook

`Mr Smith goes to Edinburgh'
Americans come for a lesson in democracy - Scottish style.

Leading electoral officials, journalists and campaigners are in the UK this week to see democracy at the cutting edge.

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