A new study from IISER Pune reveals how voter turnout can predict election outcomes and victory margins.
The research team, led by Professor M.S. Santhanam, looked at data from 581 elections across 34 countries. They even checked out Indian elections from 1952 to 2019. Their model, called the Random Voting Model, did a great job predicting actual results.
This study was published in a journal called Physical Review Letters. It really highlights how important voter behavior is in shaping election results. Plus, it shows how science can help keep our democratic processes in check. They got some serious support from the Science and Engineering Research Board and used a supercomputer for their analysis.
Interestingly, the model also pointed out some oddities in elections from places like Ethiopia and Belarus, suggesting there might be some funny business going on. Researchers think this tool could help spot election fraud around the world. How cool is that?