The Elections Centre
The Elections Centre was established by Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher in 1985 and was associated with the University of Plymouth until 2018 and temporarily with Nuffield College, University of Oxford, before coming to Exeter in 2023.
The Centre is widely recognised as the resource for local level elections data, expertise and research in Britain. It is relied upon by organisations such as the BBC, Sky News, ITV News and PA media (the Press Association), the Local Government Association (LGA), The Sunday Times newspaper, the House of Commons Library, and the Electoral Commission, amongst others, to provide academically rigorous, objective and non-partisan data and analysis, as well as lead the way in terms of expertise and methodology. An Assistant Editor from the Sunday Times described it as “a centre of excellence for its research and expertise on local and national elections”, and many other stakeholders from the BBC, ITV and LGA described the Centre’s activity as “pivotal”, “vital” and “crucial” to their work.
The Centre and its members are part of the team that predicts election results in the exit poll, they established the national equivalent vote share and provide notional results following boundary changes. It has been supported by large-scale UKRI grants and commissions.
Co-directors
- Dr Hannah Bunting (Lecturer in Quantitative British politics, SPSPA and C2S2)
- Prof Michael Thrasher (Honorary Professor, SPSPA)
- Prof Colin Rallings (Honorary Professor, SPSPA)
Events
The Elections Centre: Spotlight on the local elections 2024