Electoral Reform Society
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) was founded in 1884, making it one of the world's oldest advocacy organisations dedicated to democratic reform. It is a membership organisation and registered charity headquartered in London, with a staff of around 30 and a substantial public profile in UK political debate.
Its core campaign is for proportional representation to replace first-past-the-post in Westminster elections. Beyond voting systems, ERS has increasingly championed citizens' assemblies and deliberative mini-publics as a complement to — or corrective for — representative institutions. The society runs and commissions public participation processes, publishes research, and acts as an expert voice on constitutional design.
ERS also owns Electoral Reform Services, a trading subsidiary that runs elections for trade unions, professional bodies, and organisations worldwide — providing a revenue stream that partly funds its advocacy work.
Key people
- John Stuart Mill — early supporter and theorist whose work on proportional representation shaped the society's founding arguments.
Links
- Website: electoral-reform.org.uk
- Wikipedia: Electoral Reform Society
See also
History
- 1884-01-01 Founded as the Proportional Representation Society — one of the world's oldest electoral reform organisations
- 1918-02-06 Instrumental in the Representation of the People Act 1918, expanding the franchise and adopting STV for university seats
- 2011-05-05 Led the Yes campaign in the UK's Alternative Vote referendum — the first UK-wide electoral system referendum