Welcome to the October edition of Democracy Club’s regular newsletter. All past emails are accessible in an online archive.

The minister speaks

On 15 October Alex Norris, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Democracy and Local Growth (the minister responsible for elections), published an open letter to electoral administrators. In it he announced the addition of Veteran Cards to the list of acceptable voter ID, and confirmed that the government will extend the vote to 16 and 17 year-olds. He also stated that the government would like to improve electoral registration, and intends to “look to identify and address the biggest challenges and pain-points in the current system for electoral registration and conduct”. You can read the letter on GOV.UK.

Our suggestions for change

Coincidentally, Norris’ letter came five days after we had published some recommendations for reform of UK statutory election notices. In short, the way information about elections is currently published is a bit of a pain. The official list of candidates does not perfectly reflect the ballot paper voters receive, and there is no requirement for councils to publish electorate data as part of the official results. These issues make our work, and the work of others, that bit harder. Do get in touch if you have any thoughts on this (especially if your name happens to be Alex Norris MP!). Read the blog.

Intimidation of election candidates

The recent general election sadly saw a very high level of abuse and intimidation directed towards candidates and campaigners, especially online. On 14 October the House of Commons approved the creation of a Speaker’s conference on the subject, to last the whole length of the parliament. This is something we at Democracy Club take very seriously, and we will be following this closely. The House of Commons Library has produced an excellent summary of the issue, which you can read on the parliament website.

Historically, Speaker’s conferences have been the main mechanism through which electoral law reform has been achieved in the UK, most famously in 1918. Learn more about past conferences from the Commons Library.

City of London Corporation

The City of London council holds its next election in March 2026. But the voter registration deadline is on 30 November this year. This is because the City’s ‘ward lists’ are published annually, and cannot be modified during the year. The City also has a unique franchise which allows City workers to vote, as well as residents. If you live or work in the Square Mile and aren’t sure if you’re eligible to vote, head over to the Speak for the City website now. We’ll have a blog out on this shortly.

Elections to watch

We’re currently aware of 45 council seats up for election in November, all of them on Thursdays. View the full list on the front page of Who Can I Vote For.

All the best,

The Democracy Club Team