When 82 Percent Voter Turnout Isn’t Good Enough
Election Participation in My Swedish City Could Crush Any Town in America. But We Decided There Was More to Be Done.
I did not receive the warmest welcome from my colleagues four years ago, at my very first meeting of the Falun Election Commission. In fact, most members of the authority in Falun, the Swedish city of 57,000 where I live, were surprised I had called a meeting at all.
“What is this all about?” a colleague asked me. “The next elections are in four years and we had just an election with a great turnout. The only thing we are elected to do is administer the next elections.”
My colleague had …
