#local-elections

#local-elections

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has cautioned councils that they face a "race against time" to prepare for the local elections scheduled for May, amid concerns over administrative readiness and staffing pressures. Speaking at a party briefing on Monday, Starmer urged local authorities to ensure polling stations, voter registration systems, and ballot delivery mechanisms are fully operational. He stressed the importance of maintaining confidence in the democratic process, particularly in light of expected higher turnout in key wards.

Local election administrators have warned that councils face "an uphill struggle" to be ready in time for the May local elections after the government reversed its plan to delay some votes. Local Government Secretary Steve Reed had initially approved delays in 30 council elections in England until 2027. But the government abandoned plans to postpone ballots after advice was given that the move could be unlawful.

Loving County, in northwest Texas, may have the highest trouble-to-resident ratio in the United States. With sixty-four inhabitants, as of the 2020 census, the county is the least populated in the country. Control of its top elected positions-sheriff, judge, constable, county clerk-can be swung by a handful of votes. Many of those vying for power are related to, and estranged from, their opponents. Election results are regularly challenged by the losing candidate, sometimes repeatedly;

Jemima Laing, acting leader of Labour-led Plymouth City Council, said the authority was "well advanced" in its preparations and the poll would go ahead. Laing said: "We recognise that this may be the right approach for some councils facing capacity challenges due to local government reorganisation - however, this is not the case for Plymouth. "We are already well advanced in our preparations for the May 2026 local elections and plans are firmly in place. Therefore, the elections will proceed as scheduled."

Keir Starmer is planning for a new king's speech after the crunch May elections as a reset moment for the government amid speculation over the prime minister's future. Senior sources in parliament said planning was under way to end the parliamentary session the week after local elections in England, making it a significantly longer session than normal, and nearly two years since Labour first set out its legislative agenda.

For the last 10-or-so years, I've seen Biarritz fracture. The pact of confidence between the people of Biarritz and their town hall is broken,

The government is set to postpone elections for newly created mayors in some parts of Southern England. Local government sources say two out of four areas expected to vote in May 2026 - Essex and the combined counties of Norfolk and Suffolk - will now do so at a later date. Opposition parties are calling for the elections to go ahead as planned, with shadow local government secretary James Cleverly accusing Labour of "subverting democracy".

With the election yesterday of Millennial Zohran Mamdani as New York City's mayor, generational change in Democratic Party politics has shifted more firmly away from Boomers. ( source) With the youngest Boomers in their mid-60s, it's time - not to mention other reasons like a lifetime of baggage impeding effective governance. This is an open thread with an emphasis on state and local elections.

Southern Leadership for Voter Engagement ( SOLVE) is a network housed at Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) consisting of more than 300 non-partisan grassroots voting rights groups focused on achieving fair and equitable access to the ballot. Our members are educating voters about what's at stake in local elections and how to access the ballot in a region with modern-day barriers to the ballot that disproportionately harm Black, Latino, Asian and Native American voters, as well as those with disabilities.

Ms Strom said she would do all she could to "ensure local voices are heard loud and clear". "We are working with the cards that have been handed to us by government, and under challenging conditions we continue to do our best to deliver for local people," she added.

What remains of the Blue Wall is crumbling away. People across Surrey and beyond have voted for true community champions who will put them first. The Liberal Democrats are winning against the Conservatives, but also Labour, Reform and the Greens.

Although the elections are meant to focus on municipal issues, the campaign has been dominated by national questions: identity, minority rights, and the stalled EU accession process. In the capital, Skopje, pressing local challenges remain unresolved. The city of about 520,000 people still lacks a wastewater treatment plant and has no public transport alternatives to buses. The next mayor will also need to adopt a long-delayed "General Urban Plan for 20222032" and oversee preparations for "Skopje European Capital of Culture 2028."

"As of close of business Monday, the proponents had not filed the above-mentioned documents," said a letter signed by City of Santa Clara Clerk Bob O'Keefe. "The City Clerk/Elections Official has no discretion in accepting nor shall accept any late mandatory filings." Kertes' campaign, launched Sept. 16, failed to turn in paper work showing at least 2,055 unique signatures from the more than 10,000 registered voters in District 5 needed for a recall effort on a special election ballot.

The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity was a good example. It was explicitly designed to add a little housing in every community, but not the same amount in every community, to avoid changing their character. It was proportional, meaning dense areas like Midtown South would get more units than low-scale neighborhoods such as College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston and Little Neck, all of which Paladino represents.

Georgian prosecutors on Monday charged five opposition leadership figures with attempting to overthrow the government, after protests on Saturday culminated in clashes between police and demonstrators in the country's capital Tbilisi. The country's interior ministry said that 13 people had been detained in connection with the unrest. list of 3 itemsend of list Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators rallied at Freedom Square in Tbilisi on Saturday, as the country of 3.7 million people voted in local elections.

We planned to work for a few years, then start a family. And we did. It was a gigantic change to plan how many children to have. Today, you can get birth control pills over the counter. Trust Women has been the motto of Planned Parenthood, and I volunteered with them for more than 20 years. But today, women are still fighting to retain contraceptive rights.

Thousands took to the streets following calls by opposition parties for large protests against the ruling Georgian Dream party as ballots were being cast for local elections on October 4. Their aim was to revitalize daily demonstrations that began last year following alleged violations in parliamentary elections and a subsequent government decision to halt talks on joining the European Union. Those protests have largely fizzled out in recent months.

Soon after Zohran Mamdani secured the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor, Amanda Litman posted a video selfie on TikTok. "The dinosaurs of the past, the boomers, the hostile managers, the assholes-they are behind us," she preached to the camera. If viewers felt inspired to "run to take on the status quo," they should head to her organization's website and register.

The AfD failed to win any mayoral race, but it still tripled its vote share Image: Friso Gentsch/dpa/picture alliance The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has failed to take town halls in Sunday's three runoff mayoral elections in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Candidates from the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) beat their AfD opponents in the cities of Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg, while the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz won in Hagen.

The annual democratic socialists of America national convention in Chicago signified growing influence, gathering tens of thousands who support the leftwing, worker-led political ideology.

Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary marked a political shift, emphasizing affordability and showcasing divisions within the Democratic Party over key issues.

Twenty percent of the town's registered voters (3,347 votes) were needed to repeal the measure. Of the 16,732 registered voters in the town, 6,842 turned out to vote.