The introduction of new voting channels, voting technologies and other voting innovations are often thought to improve voter participation in elections and democracy. However, it frequently happens ...at the expense of administrators, who needs to deliver even more complex elections. This article traces how the introduction of a new voting channel, Internet voting, affects frontline administrators through a qualitative in-depth case study of the 2017 local elections in Estonia. Findings show that the local election administration plays a substantial role in delivering Internet voting, despite the centralized election hierarchy. The case shows little evidence to support the expectation that Internet voting decreases the administrative burden of local election officials. The article outlines the vulnerabilities in Internet voting administration, resulting from the complexity of delivering multi-channel elections, particularly the ones integrating Internet- and paper-based voting channels. The article makes important recommendations for improving the implementation of electronic voting and improving the quality of elections.
The international response to the evolving Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had interim successes while facing ongoing difficulties. The outbreak has occurred in an ...area of intractable conflict among multiple armed groups at a time of contentious national elections. Despite porous international borders and considerable population movement, however, transmission has been confined to North Kivu and Ituri provinces. Factors potentially contributing to this containment include conduct of about 55 million screenings, surveillance of contacts (12,591 under surveillance currently), testing of 280 samples per day, provision of safe and dignified burials for most deaths, vaccination of high-risk people (112,485 vaccinated as of May 7, 2019), and medical treatment including four investigational therapies. Major challenges remain. Since late February 2019, a sharp rise in cases and increased transmission have been observed. These coincide with organized attacks by armed groups targeting response teams, deteriorating security, and the population's increasing distrust of the response effort. The risk of local and regional spread remains high given the high proportion of deaths occurring outside treatment facilities, relatively low proportions of new patients who were known contacts, ongoing nosocomial transmission, and persistent delays in detection and reporting. Stopping this epidemic will require the alignment of the principal political and armed groups in eastern DRC in support of the response.
Rein Taagepera, considerably assisted by Matthew S. Shugart, is an author and advocate of one of the most interesting methodological approaches in recent years; and this applies not only to political ...science but also - more broadly - to social sciences based on quantitatively predictive logical models. This method consists of constructing - based on deduction and the principles of logic - a conceptual logical model which is subsequently supposed to be subject to testing by dint of a statistical analysis of empirical data. In this paper, on the basis of an analysis of the works by Taagepera and Shugart on the subject, a comprehensive reconstruction of the said approach shall be conducted. The quantitatively predictive logical model of the number of seat-winning parties in the electoral district shall serve as an exemplary pattern of constructing and - more importantly - it will allow for testing the predictive powers of this sort of models. So far no one has tried to test this model by looking at data from local elections. A large sample of electoral districts obtained from Polish local elections in 2018 gives such a unique opportunity.
The post-2014 decentralization policy is consolidating the center-periphery relations in Ukraine. Already before 2014, domestic policymakers had been drafting proposals for local amalgamation and an ...increase of regional authority. Before the 2020 watershed subnational elections, only the local amalgamation policy was completed, however. A significant repercussion of the post-2014 decentralization reform has been a sharp decrease in congruence of the shares of competing national parties in the parliamentary, regional, and municipal electoral arenas. On the other hand, the party system has, at the municipal level, become less fragmented. Regional councils have, in contrast, remained highly fragmented. The outcomes of the indirect elections of regional councils’ heads have benefitted Ukraine’s ruling party.
Methodologically, the book illustrates the added value of investigating elections from a multilevel perspective. It contributes to the comparative exploration of party systems change over time, and constitutes a case study of more general patterns of interaction between municipal decentralization and political development in democratizing states.
Candidate Choice Without Party Labels Kirkland, Patricia A.; Coppock, Alexander
Political behavior,
09/2018, Letnik:
40, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In the absence of party labels, voters must use other information to determine whom to support. The institution of nonpartisan elections, therefore, may impact voter choice by increasing the weight ...that voters place on candidate dimensions other than partisanship. We hypothesize that in nonpartisan elections, voters will exhibit a stronger preference for candidates with greater career and political experience, as well as candidates who can successfully signal partisan or ideological affiliation without directly using labels. To test these hypotheses, we conducted conjoint survey experiments on both nationally representative and convenience samples that vary the presence or absence of partisan information. The primary result of these experiments indicates that when voters cannot rely on party labels, they give greater weight to candidate experience. We find that this process unfolds differently for respondents of different partisan affiliations: Republicans respond to the removal of partisan information by giving greater weight to job experience while Democrats respond by giving greater weight to political experience. Our results lend microfoundational support to the notion that partisan information can crowd out other kinds of candidate information.
Many college students are motivated to vote in presidential elections. Like most Americans, however, they are far less likely to vote in elections for local officeholders. Often this is because they ...have little to no information about the candidates. Starting in 2020, with university support, the author and a colleague began providing nonpartisan information about candidates for local offices in their county. Their website is available to students and voters throughout their county. More colleges and universities should undertake similar ventures, which would fill a vital and underserved public need, strengthen the civic behaviors of college students, and enhance democracy.
This study investigates the relationship between personality and political careers. Drawing on a unique survey of municipal candidates from two Canadian provinces (N = 1193) and supplemented with ...survey data from citizens (N = 1665), we test for personality differences in candidate recruitment and electoral success. Results reveal significant personality differences between candidates and citizens, as well as between winning and losing candidates. Compared to other citizens, candidates are higher in extraversion, openness to experience, and emotional stability. As for the difference between electoral winners and losers, openness to experience is associated with a slightly higher likelihood of losing an election. These differences in personality traits emerge independent of other background characteristics such as age, education, and gender. Ultimately, the psychological dispositions that influence running for office and winning an election are not the same.
Bu çalışmada, Avustralya'nın Queensland eyaletinde kent konseyindeki meclis üyeliǧi göreviyle halk ile ilk temasını saǧlayan saǧ popülist lider Pauline Hanson'ın siyasi hayatı boyunca uygulamış ...olduǧu, popülist siyasetçi olarak nitelendirilmesinde etkili olan eylem ve söylemlerine yer verilmiştir. Hanson'ın kurucusu olduǧu One Nation Partisi'nin 2019 yılına kadar girdiǧi seçimler seçim sonuçları üzerinden deǧerlendirilmiştir. Avustralya'nın çok kültürlü bir yapıya sahip olduǧundan hareketle Hanson gibi ırkçı, popülist bir liderin siyaset tarzının desteklenmediǧi sonucuna seçim sonuçları üzerinden varılmıştır. Bu çalışma saǧ popülist siyasetçilerin genel özelliklerini sunması gerekçesiyle önem arz etmektedir.
Al desvincular las elecciones departamentales de las nacionales, la reforma constitucional de 1996 consolidó en el nivel departamental uruguayo sistemas electorales mayoritarios uninominales que ...tienen como eje de la disputa el cargo a intendente. Sin embargo, se conserva el peculiar mecanismo de doble voto simultáneo, determinante para la dinámica de la competencia electoral. Este artículo propone una adaptación de la teoría clásica de la coordinación electoral contemplando los efectos de dicho mecanismo. Se sostiene que el límite superior de candidaturas efectivas esperado es igual a cuatro, el doble que un sistema mayoritario tradicional. Se prueba empíricamente este planteamiento, junto con otras hipótesis comunes en la literatura sobre el tema con datos para Uruguay entre 1971 y 2020.
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