On May 7, the Kentucky State Board of Elections passed an emergency regulation, setting a 100 foot zone around polling places on election day. The action was motivated by the recent decision of the Sixth Circuit, striking down the statutory 300 foot limit. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Here are predictions for the British election of May 7, based on exit polling.
According to this story in The Independent, one of Britain’s leading daily newspapers, a majority of British voters now favor changing House of Commons elections to proportional representation.
On May 6, the Pew Research Center issued this report, comparing voter turnout in the most recent important election in each of the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). There are 34 countries in OECD.
When turnout is computed using the number of voters as a percentage of the voting-age population, the U.S. places fourth from the bottom. The chart emphasizes that method for comparing turnout, by using blue dots on the graph. The same graph also calculates turnout as a percentage of the number of registered voters. The U.S. does better when that method is used. The graph shows that method also, but with lighter-colored orange dots that aren’t as easy to see. The Report says that the method of calculating turnout as a percentage of registered voters is misleading, because in most OECD countries the vast majority of the eligible electorate is registered to vote, something that is not true in the United States.
The U.S. would have looked far worse if the report had used the U.S. congressional election of 2014 instead of the presidential election of 2012.
On May 5, New Paltz, New York, held an election for village offices. The election was non-partisan. Incumbent Mayor Jason West, a member of the Green Party, placed second in a four-candidate race, so he was not re-elected. See this story.
