THE IRAQ ELECTIONS . . . they've done it in SPADES.

A writer at Seniornet Round Table Discussions writes . . .

"Jerry Jennings - 07:01am Dec 16, 2005 PT (#975 of 993)
The Fallacy of Low Turnout
In the United States we calculate the voting percent using as the denominator the total age-eligible population, persons 18 and over, without regard to whether they are registered or not or whether they are citizens. Although this is the most efficient way of determining what proportion of the population participates in this important activity, it has the negative effect of making our voting rates look bad. 

In a Presidential election, turnout in recent decades has been in the 50-60 percent range using as the denominator the total age-eligible population. Were we to recalculate those percentages using the registered population as the denominator, our voting percentaqes would rise to the 80-85 percent range. This is to say that 80-85 percent of registered persons in the United States vote. 

Comparing our voting rates based on the total age-eligible population with the rates of European and other nations who use as denominator a figure more nearly comparable to our registered population, is what makes us look so bad. But this appearance is very misleading, because, as I've tried to explain, our voter turnout rates are not nearly so different from those of other democracies once we use equivalent denominators. In off-year elections, all percentages drop 30-40 points, probably we can be faulted there. Primary elections produce very low turnout rates, in the 10-20 percent range in most cases (using age-eligible population as the denominator). 

I don't how voting rates are calculated in Iraq. Before we can make a judgment as to whether turnout was good or bad, we need to know the denominator for the percentage, whether it is total age-eligible persons or registered persons (if they have a registration process--and I think they do). "