The Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 granted the Electoral Commission a variety of new supervisory and investigatory powers.

As part of this work, the Commission runs a series of public awareness campaigns ahead of elections and throughout the year to encourage people to register to vote.

These focus on audiences that research indicates are less likely to be on the electoral register, including recent home-movers, students and UK citizens living overseas.

The Electoral Commission was responsible for recommending which regions were allocated how many of the 73 seats that the United Kingdom held at the European Parliament.

On both occasions the then chair of the Electoral Commission Jenny Watson acted as the appointed Chief Counting Officer.

The commission has no legal position in the legislation concerning referendums proposed by the devolved Scottish and Welsh administrations.

From 1 October 2010, additional Commissioners serve on a part-time basis, nominated by the leaders of political parties, scrutinised by the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission and approved by the House of Commons by means of an Address to the King requesting their appointment.

The current Commissioners are: To reflect the views of stakeholders and the distinctive procedures and practices in the countries of the United Kingdom there are devolved electoral commissions for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The PPP was established by PPERA and meets quarterly to submit views to the Commission on matters affecting political parties.

[15] The Electoral Commission has been criticised by Nigel Vinson for perceived partisanship,[16] and by Peter Bone for investigations into several notable figures on the Vote Leave Campaign.

[18][19] On 13 May 2020, during Prime Minister's Questions, Conservative MP Peter Bone attacked the Electoral Commission for its investigations into four separate members of pro-Leave campaigns, who were all found innocent of any wrongdoing.

[17] On 29 August 2020, Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party Amanda Milling called for major reform of the Commission in a piece in The Telegraph, accusing the organisation of a "lack of accountability" and of operating by an "unclear rulebook".

[22][23][24][25] In March 2024, the UK government and the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) jointly sanctioned a Chinese Ministry of State Security front company called Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology and affiliated individuals for breaching the Electoral Commission and placing malware in critical infrastructure.