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

It’s been a quiet month at Democracy Club, as we’ve been working towards some larger projects and/or holidaying. Fortunately lots of other people have been busy, with three important reports on various aspects of the general election published in September - details and links below.

Join our board

We’re looking for new board members! If you like what we do and think you’ve the skills to help us on our mission, take a look at the advert for Non-Executive Directors we published earlier this month. Applications close on 6 October. Learn more.

Why are elections cancelled?

We cover all UK elections above town and parish level - even those which never go to a poll. Since 2018 our database has recorded 2,732 cancelled or postponed elections. In our most recent blog we take a look at why, when and where these cancellations occur. Read it here.

General election reports

A major report on the general election was published by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Election Assessment Mission. The Mission involved parliamentarians and staff from across the Commonwealth, and observed the entire campaign including 263 polling stations on 4 July. As one of its recommendations, the report suggests that the UK government “consider the Electoral Commission having a grater role in collecting and publishing data, including providing centralised information on candidates, such as gender and age.” This is only reinforced by the (otherwise very good) report getting the total number of candidates wrong! You can read a summary and access the full report on the CPA website.

The Electoral Commission has published a study of voter ID in the general election. The report found that 0.08% of people who tried to vote at a polling station could not do so due to the ID requirement. However, this figure should be regarded as a minimum, as it’s not possible to know how many turned back earlier or didn’t go at all due to the requirement. The report also notes very low takeup of the free ‘Voter Authority Certificate’. You can read the full report on the EC’s website.

Uttlesford District Council has published a report, written by the Association of Electoral Administrators, on the postal vote failures which affected 2,688 North West Essex voters in the general election. The AEA concludes that miscommunication between the council and its print company, and not issues with Royal Mail, caused the problem. The report also provides a great insight into the challenges involved in running an election, especially one at such short notice. You can read it here.

IFG ministers database

The Institute for Government has published its database of UK government ministers going back to 1979. This is a fantastic resource which we plan to incorporate into our own databases in the near future. Access the database on the IFG website.

Elections to watch

The wave of post-general election council by-elections continues apace, with a whopping 60 seats up for grabs in October. This includes 20 on the 10th, which is the largest number of standalone by-elections on a single day since we started tracking them in 2017 (excluding by-elections combined with national elections). As ever, you can see the full list on the front page of Who Can I Vote For.

All the best,

The Democracy Club Team