Democracy Volunteers' election experts have been in Iceland assessing the municipal elections across the country.
The team of five, including Ben Sharpe and Kim Kippen, both experienced election administrators from the UK and Canada respectively, have been assessing early voting systems in Iceland and the use of ID as part of the voting process.
Being in Iceland for a week, the team met with the Icelandic Electoral Commission, and with other observer groups including parliamentarians from the Council of Europe and the Norwegian Government.
Democracy Volunteers observed the electoral process in 204 Westminster parliamentary constituencies across the UK. The organisation deployed two or more observers to each constituency. In total, the number of observers, experts and support staff was over 200 at this election.
As part of Democracy Volunteers’ election observation for the 2025 English Local Elections, held on May 1st, the team worked with students from Manchester University to assess the impact on local election candidates because of the threats they receive.
Democracy Volunteers has been observing elections in the UK for 10 years. We have seen ‘family voting’ across the UK and we think it is important to explain more about it and how it should be possible to limit or prevent it.
‘Family voting’, as it is generally called internationally,...
Our director Dr John Ault has backed the international call to action on election observation. On the 29th of April, within the framework of the New Democratic Pact for Europe, the conference (Towards Trusted and Inclusive Electoral Processes: The Role of Observers) called on the Council of Europe’s member...
Democracy Volunteers deployed observers across the Netherlands for the parliamentary elections in October. Deploying 32 observers and experts, 25 of whom were based in the European Netherlands and the...
In September 2025, Democracy Volunteers deployed an international observation mission to assess the conduct of Norway’s Parliamentary Elections. A team of 24 trained observers independently monitored voting and counting...
The UK’s overseas postal voting system is failing — extended enfranchisement without operational capacity has created a perfect storm of lost ballots, tight timetables and systemic disenfranchisement.
Democracy Volunteers celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2025, marking a decade of independent election observation. Since our founding in 2015, the organisation has monitored more than 200,000 voters across...
This year, Democracy Volunteers celebrates a decade of independent election observation. Since our founding in 2015, we have grown to become Western Europe’s leading election observation organisation, working at...
Democracy Volunteers has today described Finland’s municipal and county elections as “extremely well-run,” citing high standards in the running of polling stations and good accessibility across polling stations.
Democracy Volunteers has released the report on the 2025 English local elections, held on May 1st. The team deployed observers across every area in England holding elections, with the exception...
Democracy Volunteers has links to many international observer groups, which it tries to support and cooperate with to help improve election observation and also to support those where election...
Italy does not allow domestic election observation, leading to concerns about transparency and public oversight in one of the European Union’s founding democracies.
Democracy Volunteers Director, Dr John Ault said:...
Democracy Volunteers was represented at the Canadian Vote Summit 2025 by our Director, Dr John Ault, who attended the event in Montreal from 20–21 May. Organised by the Canadian-based...
The team at Democracy Volunteers has today condemned the Russian government for imprisoning Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the Russian election observation group GOLOS, to five years...
From Kent in the South East to Lancashire in the North West and from Northumberland in the North East to Cornwall in the South West, Democracy Volunteers deployed election...