Meta-analysis: why do citizens vote (or abstain) in national elections

The question why people choose to vote or abstain in national elections has been extensively researched in the past decades. Yet, disagreement over what drives citizens to the polls persists. Literally, over a 100 different explanatory factors have been linked to the individual's decision to vote or abstain: ranging from individual characteristics like education, age and political interest, to socialization by friends and parents, to characteristics of the election-like political competition, and many more. Slowly, but surely, it has become difficult to see the wood for the trees. In the research project that we describe in this article, we wanted to take a step back and summarize where we stand and what we know about turnout. To this end, we carried out a meta-analysis of 90 empirical studies of individual-level voter turnout in national elections between 2000 and 2010. This allowed us to identify which variables are consistently linked to turnout, and which are not. In this article, we describe what meta-analysis is and give an example of how to carry out meta-analysis by describing our research project on turnout

How seriously should we take the opinions of academics and experts when it comes to complicated issues like electoral integrity?

The result of the 2015 General Election came as a surprise for most people, but particularly those in the academic and polling community. But what is the appropriate role for academics in an electoral setting, particularly when it comes to complicated issues like the integrity of electoral contests. Ferran Martinez i Coma and Carolien Van Ham seek to answer this question, and conclude that expert surveys are useful even when treating complex and multi-faceted issues, such as electoral integrity; and even when carried out in institutional settings as different as liberal democracies and electoral autocracies

Who runs elections and how can they be improved? independence, resources and workforce conditions are essential for good election management

In new research published today about how elections are run around the world, Toby S. James, Leontine Loeber, Holly Ann Garnett and Carolien van Ham find that organisational independence matters for well-run elections, and that election management could be improved with more resources, improved working conditions for election employees – and a better gender balance in electoral management bodies

Electoral management and the organisational determinants of electoral integrity

Achieving the ideals of electoral democracy depends on well-run elections. Persistent problems of electoral integrity in transitional and established democracies have prompted a burgeoning literature seeking to explain the determinants of electoral integrity around the world. However, the study of the organisations responsible for managing the electoral process has been limited to isolated national case studies. This article opens up an interdisciplinary and international research agenda on the global study of the organisational determinants of electoral integrity. It defines the concept of electoral management and provides a framework to understand how electoral management body (EMB) institutional design, EMB performance and electoral integrity are related. Findings from new data derived from cross-national surveys of EMBs are described, providing new insights into how elections are managed worldwide

Getting elections right? Measuring electoral integrity

Holding elections has become a global norm. Unfortunately, the integrity of elections varies strongly, ranging from “free and fair” elections with genuine contestation to “façade” elections marred by manipulation and fraud. Clearly, electoral integrity is a topic of increasing concern. Yet electoral integrity is notoriously difficult to measure, and hence taking stock of the available data is important. This article compares cross-national data sets measuring electoral integrity. The first part evaluates how the different data sets (a) conceptualize electoral integrity, (b) move from concepts to indicators, and (c) move from indicators to data. The second part analyses how different data sets code the same elections, seeking to explain the sources of disagreement about electoral integrity. The sample analysed comprises 746 elections in 95 third and fourth wave regimes from 1974 until 2009. I find that conceptual and measurement choices affect disagreement about election integrity, and also find that elections of lower integrity and post-conflict elections generate higher disagreement about election integrity. The article concludes with a discussion of results and suggestions for future research

Phagocytosis of platelets opsonized with differently glycosylated anti-HLA hIgG1 by monocyte-derived macrophages

Immune-mediated platelet refractoriness (PR) remains a significant problem in the setting of platelet transfusion and is predominantly caused by the presence of alloantibodies directed against class I human leukocyte antigens (HLA). Opsonization of donor platelets with these alloantibodies can result in rapid clearance after transfusion via multiple mechanisms, including antibody dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP). Interestingly, not all alloimmunized patients develop PR to unmatched platelet transfusions, suggesting variation in HLA-specific IgG responses between patients. Previously, we observed that the glycosylation profile of anti-HLA antibodies was highly variable between PR patients, especially with respect to Fc galactosylation, sialylation and fucosylation. In the current study, we investigated the effect of different Fc glycosylation patterns, with known effects on complement deposition and FcγR binding, on phagocytosis of opsonized platelets by monocyte-derived human macrophages. We found that the phagocytosis of antibody- and complement-opsonized platelets, by monocyte derived M1 macrophages, was unaffected by these qualitative IgG-glycan differences