Archive for Election law
Hustings: do all the candidates have to be invited? (UPDATED)
"Do we have to invite the extremist candidate?" "Can I veto the hustings by refusing to attend?" "Is the hustings meeting an election expense?" These are all common questions during general election campaigns, so here is your whistle-stop guide to what the various rules says.
Electoral Commission publishes draft guidance on whether counts should be held on Thursday evening
With Parliament expected to pass legislation placing an onus on Returning Officers to start general election counts shortly after the polls close, rather than wait until Friday morning, the Electoral Commission has published a draft of the guidance it will be required to issue.
Weekend voting gets another push from Jenny Watson
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Electoral Commission chair Jenny Watson repeated the Commission’s interest in seeing a switch to weekend voting:
Flexible election schedules, including opening the polls for entire weekends, should be considered to make the system more relevant to 21st century life, she said.
These comments echo strong public support for weekend voting, [...]
Welcome advice on poll cards from the Electoral Commission
The 2010 edition of the Electoral Commission's "Handbook for polling station staff" contains this welcome advice for those staff:
What happens if you fail to include an imprint in an online advert?
There isn't space on a Google Adwords advert to put in an election imprint. So what happens if you run the adverts without an imprint? A case in Florida has put this to the test.
General election timetable: 6 May 2010
Today's setting of the budget for 24 March means it's all but certain that the general election will be on 6 May, the date of the scheduled local elections.
Official: records that would show full extent of Ashcroft donations have been destroyed
Hundreds of local records which would reveal the extent of Lord Ashcroft's donations to the Conservative Party during the crucial last few weeks of the 2005 general election campaign have been destroyed the Electoral Commission has confirmed.
Electoral registration: is the problem with young people or with journalism?
Earlier this week the Electoral Commission published a new report, The completeness and accuracy of electoral registers in Great Britain, looking at how electoral registration is working in the UK.
Although it's been widely covered, the coverage has been very similar - taking the top line figures from the report and covering press release without digging in to what the report really says. So if we venture in to the inner reaches of the report, what do we find?
Confirmed: Rwandans to get the vote from 10 March
The decision taken last year to let Rwanda join the Commonwealth means that Rwandan citizens living in the UK acquire the right to vote, including in Parliamentary elections. This change will (thanks to an amendment to the British Nationality Act 1981, adding Rwanda to the list of Commonwealth countries) will come in to force for elections from 10 March.
How to register to vote
Electoral registration is run by local councils, so in order to get on the electoral register you need to fill in a form and return it to your local council. Filling in other paperwork, such as to do with paying Council Tax or getting a driving license, will not add you to the electoral register [...]
