All posts tagged: electoral

Britain’s Tories brace for another electoral disaster – POLITICO

Britain’s Tories brace for another electoral disaster – POLITICO

Published by Sam

And while this puts Badenoch in touching distance of Labour, some in her party believe this is a disappointing effort considering the near-disastrous first six months in government for Starmer. “She’s really struggling to find the right issues to attack the government on or to lead the political conversation,” said a Tory figure. “Contrast this to Farage, who is able to get ahead of big political moments and set the running — like on steel nationalization.” Badenoch has also attracted criticism for being unable to truly land blows on the government’s economic performance, particularly as the U.K.’s growth forecasts began to crater after November’s tax-raising budget. A recent Ipsos poll also put her personal approval rating as -26, which was well below both Starmer and Farage. Despite her early struggles, it is these local elections that may be the nadir of Badenoch’s young leadership. The worst is yet to come The Tories hold the vast majority of the 1,641 seats up for grabs next week, after the party’s strong performance in 2021, when they were last …

L.A. Times electoral endorsements for 2024 November election

L.A. Times electoral endorsements for 2024 November election

Published by Sam

Proposition 2: Yes Proposition 2 is a $10 billion bond that will fund repairs for California’s public schools and community colleges, many of which are run-down and lack basic functionality, such as air conditioning. Proposition 3: Yes Proposition 3 gives Californians an opportunity to formally renounce a wrongful moment in our voting history and step forward to positively affirm that bigotry toward same-sex couples has no place in our state or its Constitution. Proposition 4: Yes Proposition 4 is a $10 billion grab bag of spending on climate, fire prevention, energy, conservation and agriculture projects so disparate that this bond measure almost defies categorization. But it is still better to spend money today to prepare for climate change than to pay much more to respond in the future. Proposition 5: Yes Proposition 5 would get California closer to majority rule by lowering the threshold to pass local bond measures to 55% instead of 66.7%. We think it’s a fairer way to make spending and taxing decisions. Requiring supermajority support gives disproportionate power to the naysayers …

The Guardian view on a lopsided parliament: a deficit in democracy needs electoral reform | Editorial

The Guardian view on a lopsided parliament: a deficit in democracy needs electoral reform | Editorial

Published by skeptic

Last Sunday, Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, set a hare running on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg show when he said that this election could make the case for proportional representation (PR). Mr Burnham was on to something. If the polls are right, the result of the 2024 election could be so skewed as to be the least proportional on record. Sir Keir Starmer could enter Downing Street with a record number of seats and an immense majority on a lower turnout – and fewer votes – than Jeremy Corbyn achieved in 2017. By the end of the week, pundits were lining up to agree with Mr Burnham. Such lopsided results would confirm just how undemocratic Britain has become and show that, significantly, PR could become an issue around which Labour dissent coalesces. Many Labour MPs and most trade unions support reform of the electoral system. In 2022, the party’s conference backed moving to a fairer proportional voting system. A year later, the party’s national policy forum produced a fudge saying that the current …

Can France’s New Popular Front overcome electoral threat from far right? | France

Can France’s New Popular Front overcome electoral threat from far right? | France

Published by skeptic

France’s four main left-leaning and green parties, aiming to block the advance of the far right, have formed an alliance to run a single list of candidates in snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron for later this month. Who is in the New Popular Front (NFP), what is its platform, how well is it likely to perform – and, given the major policy disagreements between its members and the personal animosity among its leaders, will it survive? Why has the left united? Voting in French presidential and parliamentary elections takes place over two rounds. A candidate can win in the first round if they garner more than 50% of the total ballots cast, representing at least 25% of registered voters, but this is rare. In the majority of France’s 577 constituencies, the two leading candidates from the first round, plus any others who collected at least 12.5% of registered voters, go through to the second. Joining forces hugely increases the chances of leftist candidates advancing. The name of the alliance is a nod to …

How BBC’s breaking news alerts are giving voters – and political parties – an electoral buzz | General election 2024

How BBC’s breaking news alerts are giving voters – and political parties – an electoral buzz | General election 2024

Published by skeptic

The most powerful person in British media during this election, in terms of having the most direct access to voters, is no longer the editor of BBC’s News at Six or the person who chooses the headlines on Radio 2. Nor are they a newspaper editor, a TikTok influencer, or a podcaster. Instead, they’re the anonymous on-shift editor of the BBC News app, making snap judgments on whether to make the phones of millions of Britons buzz with a breaking news push alert. The BBC does not publish user numbers, but external research suggests about 12.6 million Britons have its news app installed. BBC newsroom sources say the actual number is higher and the assumption is that about 60% of users have notifications enabled. This means that on a conservative estimate, a typical push alert is reaching the phones of 7 million Britons – more than any other broadcast news bulletin in the UK. Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former director of communications, said influencing the BBC’s coverage was the main objective for all political press …

Georgia Supreme Court Declines to Rule on Whether Counties Can Draw Their Own Electoral Maps

Georgia Supreme Court Declines to Rule on Whether Counties Can Draw Their Own Electoral Maps

Published by skeptic

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia Supreme Court agrees that someone needs to issue a legally final ruling on whether county commissioners can override state legislators and draw their own electoral districts. But the nine justices on Thursday also agreed it would be improper to rule on that question in a lawsuit brought by two Cobb County residents, reversing a lower court judgment that had thrown out the county commissioners’ own map. The ruling that Catherine and David Floam weren’t qualified to get a declaratory judgment means that, for now, residents in Georgia’s third-largest county will elect two county commissioners in districts mapped by the Democratic-majority Cobb County Commission, and not under the earlier map drawn by the Republican-majority legislature. Voting is underway in advance of May 21 primaries. “To be clear, the fact that there are two competing maps does create significant uncertainty for many,” Justice Nels Peterson wrote for a unanimous court in explaining why the couple didn’t qualify for declaratory judgment. “But the Floams have not shown that this uncertainty affects their future …

House Passes ‘Electoral Integrity’ Bill To Restore Citizenship Question To Census

House Passes ‘Electoral Integrity’ Bill To Restore Citizenship Question To Census

Published by skeptic

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times, The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to pass a measure that would add a citizenship question to the next U.S. census, as part of the latest efforts by conservatives to “protect America’s democracy and electoral integrity.” The legislation, known as the “Equal Representation Act,” was led by Rep. Chuck Edwards, (R-N.C.), who spoke on the floor Wednesday regarding the need to ensure only American citizens are counted when apportioning congressional seats and Electoral College votes. It passed in a vote of 206-202 along party lines. The measure would direct the Census Bureau to add a question to the once-a-decade census asking whether or not the respondent is a citizen of the United States. It asks that only citizens be considered when determining how many lawmakers each state gets in the House of Representatives, as well as how many Electoral College votes each of the 50 states receives. The measure creates new reporting requirements for data gathered from the citizenship question, noting that “the citizenship makeup of …

Labour’s Sadiq Khan wins third term as mayor as U.K.’s ruling Conservatives endure more electoral pain

Labour’s Sadiq Khan wins third term as mayor as U.K.’s ruling Conservatives endure more electoral pain

Published by skeptic

LONDON — Sadiq Khan, the Labour Party’s mayor of London, romped to victory Saturday, securing a record third straight term at City Hall, on another hugely disappointing day for the U.K.’s governing Conservatives ahead of a looming general election. Khan won a little over a million votes, or nearly 44% of the vote, more than 11 percentage points ahead of his main challenger, the Conservative Party’s Susan Hall. His is the biggest individual mandate of any politician in the U.K. There had been frenzied speculation on Friday that the result would be closer than previously thought, but Khan’s victory showed a swing from Conservative to Labour when compared with the previous mayoral election in 2021, even though that was conducted under a different electoral system. Khan, who replaced Boris Johnson as London mayor in 2016 and who has widespread policing and budget powers, has been an increasingly divisive figure in the past few years regardless of the facts for or against, particularly in the suburbs, where he fared worse than in the inner city. His supporters …

Labour’s Sadiq Khan Reelected as London Mayor as UK’s Ruling Conservatives Face More Electoral Pain

Labour’s Sadiq Khan Reelected as London Mayor as UK’s Ruling Conservatives Face More Electoral Pain

Published by skeptic

LONDON (AP) — Sadiq Khan, the Labour Party’s mayor of London, romped to victory Saturday, securing a record third straight term at City Hall, on another hugely disappointing day for the U.K.’s governing Conservatives ahead of a looming general election. Khan won a little over a million votes, or nearly 44% of the vote, more than 11 percentage points ahead of his main challenger, the Conservative Party’s Susan Hall. His is the biggest individual mandate of any politician in the U.K. There had been frenzied speculation on Friday that the result would be closer than previously thought, but Khan’s victory showed a swing from Conservative to Labour when compared with the previous mayoral election in 2021, even though that was conducted under a different electoral system. Khan, who replaced Boris Johnson as London mayor in 2016 and who has widespread policing and budget powers, has been an increasingly divisive figure in the past few years regardless of the facts for or against, particularly in the suburbs, where he fared worse than in the inner city. …

Biden’s Electoral College Challenge – The Atlantic

Biden’s Electoral College Challenge – The Atlantic

Published by Sam

President Joe Biden won a decisive Electoral College victory in 2020 by restoring old Democratic advantages in the Rust Belt while establishing new beachheads in the Sun Belt. But this year, his position in polls has weakened on both fronts. The result is that, even this far from Election Day, signs are developing that Biden could face a last-mile problem in the Electoral College. Even a modest recovery in Biden’s current support could put him in position to win states worth 255 Electoral College votes, strategists in both parties agree. His problem is that every option for capturing the final 15 Electoral College votes he would need to reach a winning majority of 270 looks significantly more difficult. At this point, former President Donald Trump’s gains have provided him with more plausible alternatives to cross the last mile to 270. Trump’s personal vulnerabilities, Biden’s edge in building a campaign organization, and abortion rights’ prominence in several key swing states could erase that advantage. But for now, Biden looks to have less margin for error than …