Toby S. James
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tobysjames.bsky.social
Toby S. James
@tobysjames.bsky.social
Professor of Politics & Policy, @UEA, Visiting Prof. @LSE
Electoral Integrity Project co-Director
Policy Studies Editor: @policy-studies.bsky.social
Researching and teaching on: democracy, electoral integrity, political science.
https://tobysjames.com
Pinned
📢New!

What is the relationship between democracy, public administration and democratic backsliding?

In this new article, I argue that the answer depends on the concept of democracy that is used...

📖Read free:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

🌎Special issue page:
tobysjames.com/democratic-b...
The State of Political Leadership in Britain

Roundtable with Charles Clarke, Tim Bale, Emmanuelle Avril and Patrick Diamond

Tuesday 25th November 1pm-2.30pm

The registration link is: forms.office.com/e/dnX1qZ4pVR. We will send a join link 24 hours before the event
November 10, 2025 at 10:40 AM
💡 How do different scholars do research on electoral integrity? How should they?

📖 In this new chapter for the Oxford Handbook of Electoral Integrity, I profile three rival approaches

Recognition of different pathways would greatly benefit research and policy

academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
October 24, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Universal suffrage is often said to be a defining feature of democracy, but not the reality for many elections around the world.

In this new piece, we map the arguments for enfranchising all residents and the number of unenfranchised adults in the UK.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
October 17, 2025 at 8:58 AM
📣 Out now!

Second editions of the British Labour Leaders and British Conservative Leaders books

Edited alongside Charles Clarke, @timbale.bsky.social and Patrick Diamond for @bitebackpublishing.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Toby S. James
🔍What is the value of poll-worker voice in the delivery of elections?

✨⬇️New research on the blog from @tobysjames.bsky.social and Alistair Clark! Thank you both!

policyandpoliticsblog.com/2025/09/24/t...
The value of poll-worker voice in the delivery of elections
by Toby S. James and Alistair Clark In their recent article published in Policy & Politics, Toby S. James and Alistair Clark explore how the perspectives of poll workers can inform and improve …
policyandpoliticsblog.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Toby S. James
September 5, 2025 at 6:50 AM
New! Just out in Democratization

@HollyAnnGarnett and I on electoral integrity resilience

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Open access and free to read...
September 5, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Toby S. James
💡 Introducing...

The Oxford Handbook on Electoral Integrity

Edited by Holly Ann Garnett and @tobysjames.bsky.social

Chapters are now being published online ahead of the print version out next year....

📖 electoralintegrityproject.com/oxford-handb...
August 27, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Why automatic voter registration is good news for UK democracy….

theconversation.com/automatic-vo...
Automatic voter registration: a huge step forward for democracy – and a chance to bring missing millions into elections
As part of a raft of new measures, people will no longer need to register themselves to vote.
theconversation.com
July 18, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Toby S. James
In case you’re interested, here’s the report by @tobysjames.bsky.social and myself on Automatic Voter Registration - something that the government has now said it’s working towards. www.jrrt.org.uk/wp-content/u...
www.jrrt.org.uk
July 17, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Automatic voter registration is coming to the UK...

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Here's why this is great news for democracy...

www.jrrt.org.uk/wp-content/u...
July 17, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Toby S. James
🌍 Upcoming Round Table!

"Model Commitments for Advancing Genuine and Credible Elections"

📅 Thu, July 10 — 11:00 AM EDT / 15:00 UTC

🔗 Register to attend: electoralintegrityproject.com/ieip2025

#iEIP2025 #Elections #Democracy
July 10, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Toby S. James
Introducing... The World of Electoral Integrity!

We have a new data visualisation tool to allow the quality of elections to be tracked around the world

www.electoralintegrityproject.com/the-world-of...
July 9, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Toby S. James
The 2025 Global Electoral Integrity Report is now out!

This year we focus in on those countries which saw rises and declines in electoral integrity.

Read here: static1.squarespace.com/static/58533...

Join the discussions at our free conference next week: electoralintegrityproject.com/ieip2025
July 3, 2025 at 9:51 AM
📢New!

What is the relationship between democracy, public administration and democratic backsliding?

In this new article, I argue that the answer depends on the concept of democracy that is used...

📖Read free:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

🌎Special issue page:
tobysjames.com/democratic-b...
July 1, 2025 at 1:38 PM
🎉Delighted to announce that @policy-studies.bsky.social is now listed for Political Science in the Clarivate Journal Citation Reports.

Not only that, it is straight in as a Q1 journal.

Thank you to all the authors, reviewers and editorial board who have contributed to making this possible!
June 19, 2025 at 1:37 PM
📣 New in Policy and Politics

Poll workers provide an essential role in a democracy - working on the 'coalface' to issue ballot papers and interact with the voter.

What if we listened directly to their experience, when devising electoral policy?

bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...
June 18, 2025 at 9:07 AM
2024 may have been the 'year of elections' but was it the year for electoral integrity?

There is a new Electoral Integrity Project-IDEA report out today, calling for urgent electoral integrity reforms worldwide to strengthen democracy:

www.idea.int/publications...

🗳️Please spread the word!
June 9, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Last week we launched a new report in Parliament on the UK electoral franchise.

The report estimated that there are 4.4 million resident adults in the UK who are unenfranchised at Parliamentary elections – and 1.2 million at local elections.

Find out more: tobysjames.com/2025/05/08/w...
What if everyone could vote?
Last week we launched a new report in Parliament on the UK electoral franchise. The report estimated that there are 4.4 million resident adults in the UK who are unenfranchised at Parliamentary ele…
tobysjames.com
May 8, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The Australian election (in London) #overseasvoting
April 28, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Toby S. James
Making elections more transparent? Lessons from the implementation of digital imprints at the 2024 UK General Election

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
April 21, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Toby S. James
I’m so angry & heart broken. My NSF CAREER grant was stolen today; dream project supporting science teachers/students as climate justice action researchers, tackling urban heat. Truly transformative, the culmination of my life’s work, we won’t stop, not in this climate crisis. Gonna fight like hell!
April 19, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Reposted by Toby S. James
Just heard from the VP research that my grant with @dgrand.bsky.social, "Promoting Accurate Information on Social Media" was terminated as well
Can confirm that my NSF grant "How False Beliefs Form & How to Correct Them" was cancelled today because it is "not in alignment with current NSF priorities" Shocking that understanding how people are misled by false information is now a forbidden topic. Our work will continue but at a smaller scale
NSF has posted an “update on priorities.”

They’re canceling all “DEI and misinformation/disinformation” grants.

And the guidance on how to fulfill the longstanding, legally mandated Broadening Participation requirement is utterly incoherent.

www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
April 19, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Reposted by Toby S. James
#Democracy - it would be a good idea
💥New! Low voter turnout is increasingly a problem in UK elections. Automatic Voter Registration and Assisted Voter Registration could lead to millions more voting, argue
@tobysjames.bsky.social, Paul Bernal and Ellen Berry.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
April 16, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Toby S. James
As many good governance initiatives are being rolled back around the world, organizational routines can be a source of resistance against policy dismantling

In a new article in @policy-studies.bsky.social, @fnietomorales.bsky.social and I study the resilience of transparency policy in Mexico
April 9, 2025 at 3:12 AM