Rethink... voting

Rethink

One person, one vote - we're all equal in the voting booth, right?

But it hasn't always been this way, and just who can vote has changed many times since the Second World War.

Until 1951, business owners and some university graduates were allowed multiple votes. 18 year olds could vote for the first time in the 1970 general election, and In 2024 British expats who had lived outside the UK for longer than 15 years were given the vote.

There are anomalies too. Irish and Commonwealth citizens who have just arrived in the UK can vote as long as they're registered, but an EU citizen who's lived here for 20 years cannot, unless they become a British citizen.

And when it comes to the results, smaller parties say the First Past the Post system leaves them with few seats that don't reflect their level of support.

So is there a better way? Quadratic voting, which allows people to vote multiple times could be the answer. Ben Ansell speaks to one of its inventors, and asks, "is it time to rethink voting?"

Presenter: Ben Ansell Producer: Ravi Naik Editor: Clare Fordham

Contributors Glen Weyl, Microsoft Research Rosie Campbell Professor of Politics at King's College London Dr Hannah White the CEO of the Institute for Government Rob Ford Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester