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Category: Voting systems and the electoral process

Priti Patel may just have changed the Tory leadership rules and this has major betting implications

Priti Patel may just have changed the Tory leadership rules and this has major betting implications

Voting systems matter when it comes to betting Earlier on this week Priti Patel made the astonishing announcement that the 2011 AV referendum result wasn’t just a rejection of AV but all transferable voting systems which is quite the radical interpretation of the referendum result given there are other transferable voting systems apart from AV which were not on the 2011 referendum ballot paper. If Patel and the Tory party wish to be consistent and avoid accusations of hypocrisy then…

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Why all eyes should be on Maine on Tuesday

Why all eyes should be on Maine on Tuesday

As Maine goes, so goes the nation? I suspect apart from the senate result Maine won’t be high on the priorities of election watchers on Tuesday as the common consent is that Biden should win the state easily (he’s currently around 1/7 on Betfair to win Maine.) So why all eyes on Maine, no not because of the fantastic lobsters Maine offers but because  Maine will be the first state ever to use ranked choice voting for a Presidential election. The form…

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Trump’s attack on voting by post might be making his defeat more likely

Trump’s attack on voting by post might be making his defeat more likely

New polling suggests he’s creating a problem for his party The huge attacks on postal voting that we are hearing from the White House at the moment could in fact lead to fewer Trump supporters actually voting than Biden ones. With the pandemic still sweeping large parts of the US many individual states have been prepared for many more voters to want to cast their ballots in the November 3rd election without exposing themselves to the risk that going to…

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Conducting elections with the great unwashed during and after a pandemic

Conducting elections with the great unwashed during and after a pandemic

I’ve seen the future and it’s a world with mostly digital campaigning and only online voting As someone who expects Covid-19 and variants to be with us for at least the near future our lives we will have to adapt to prevent other pandemics and peaks and for election geeks like ourselves that means changes to how campaigns and voting are conducted, because the relentless optimist that I am I fear pandemics are here to stay. Campaigning – Like the…

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Today’s Top Tip for Remainers – if there’s a 2nd Referendum demand strict voter photo ID

Today’s Top Tip for Remainers – if there’s a 2nd Referendum demand strict voter photo ID

At a constituency level there is a strong linear relationship between estimated Leave vote and not having a passport. pic.twitter.com/VxRTv6zCuS — Joe Twyman (@JoeTwyman) October 13, 2019 And driving licences by age There’s a case for arguing that the section of the population who’d have most problems with proposed voter ID laws are the elderly who are much less likely to have a passport and/or a driving licence. Given that they were much more likely to vote Leave in june…

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New adventures in electoral systems. Approval voting

New adventures in electoral systems. Approval voting

This is an intriguing experiment. The winner should be the candidate who most voters approve of. So it encourages centrism and hardliners to be flexible. https://t.co/nEORMKTA8T — Alastair Meeks (@AlastairMeeks) November 7, 2018 Settle down at the back, I can tell you’re getting overexcited. The midterm elections in the US have been endlessly pored over. One result, however, may have more far-reaching effects than most. Or not. Politics does not want for different voting systems. We have first past the post, the method used…

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Tuesday may see the biggest change to the electoral process in Florida since the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Tuesday may see the biggest change to the electoral process in Florida since the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Video above: The WSJ’s take on Florida allowing felons to vote. On Tuesday Floridians will vote on whether to allow one and a half millions felons the right to vote, the polling shows that it is likely the voters will back restoration of voting rights for felons. Several respected observers have said felons being allowed to vote might have no impact in the results in the sunshine state, although some say it will benefit the Democrats, some say it may…

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A big question today is how many voters can’t cast their ballots because they don’t have the required ID

A big question today is how many voters can’t cast their ballots because they don’t have the required ID

Just been to vote. Was informed that two people had already turned up without ID this morning so had been unable to vote. Very worrying and backs up all the evidence that the voter ID pilot in Bromley is plain wrong. — Ellie Reeves (@elliereeves) May 3, 2018 This is also happening in Swindon Borough where some who have none of the approved ID have also not received their ballot cards. — Sarah Bowles (@sarahbowlesuk) May 3, 2018 In none…

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