Local Elections in the City of York, U.K.

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in a democracy, when so few people turn out for an election, it denies legitimacy to the government that is elected and often results in a government that is not answerable to the people because that government was only elected by a small percentage of the people. The author points out three main reasons for the small voter local election: the United Kingdom's use of the First Past the Post system for local elections; the age of the voters; and the proximity of the voters to the polling places. The paper relates that most European nations now use a proportional system for national and local elections, making the United Kingdom's use of the First Past the Post system for local elections somewhat of a relic.

From the Paper:

"However, there is still a third variable which must be considered in this problem. The vicinity of the voters to the polling places has been found to have a bearing on how many people participate in the local elections. In areas in which residents live less than five minutes away from the polling place for a local election, voter turnout has been found to be very high, almost sixty-five percent in some cases. However, in areas in which voters lived more than five minutes away from their polling places, voter turnout dropped astoundingly to around thirty-five percent. This indicates that voters want convenience in their polling places, probably because people today lead such busy lives that it is difficult for them to take much time out of their day to go and vote in a local election."

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