16 and 17 years olds are about to get the vote but only around 30% of under 18’s say they’ve learned about politics in school or college. Is lowering the voting age enough to get young people engaged?   

In this episode of How to Increase Turnout?, host Joshua Paisley is joined by James Sloam, Professor of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London, to explore the state of youth participation in UK elections and what the Representation of the People Bill could really mean for turnout.   

Find out how to get involved as an election observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

How to Increase Turnout: Youth Participation

Kazakhstan went to the polls on 23rd August for their first parliamentary election since the constitutional change. The result was a landslide, new party Adilet won more than 71% of the vote on a reported turnout of 74%.   On the surface, it looks like the Kazakhstan government enjoys strong voter engagement and a healthy endorsement of the status quo; however, it's more complicated than the numbers suggest. 

OSCE Observers struck a more cautious tone, warning of "few genuine opportunities for independent candidacies, limited space for civil society and independent media, and a lack of a level playing field".  To make sense of this election, Joshua Paisley is joined by Joanna Lillis, a Kazakhstan-based journalist and author who has lived and worked across Central Asia since 2001, with reporting featured in The Economist, The Guardian, The Independent, Foreign Policy and POLITICO.   

To find out how to get involved as an electoral observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

Elections Across the World: Kazakhstan Election 

Why does the US still choose its president through the Electoral College, a system designed for an 18th-century country of 13 states?  

To answer this question, Joshua Paisley is joined by Alexander Keyssar, the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor at Harvard Kennedy School, and author of Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?   Together they trace the electoral college from its origins, from a muggy August in Philadelphia to filibusters in the late 1960s. 

The story of the electoral college is deeply intertwined with the progression of US politics, intertwining with issues of race and states' rights.  Find out how to get involved as an election observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

Why is the Electoral College still Used?

Zambia's August election was billed as a test of one of Africa's most stable democracies. It ended with the arrest of the main opposition candidate, accusations of a staged assassination attempt, a vote count suspended over unverified reports of violence, and questions raised over discrepancies between the presidential and parliamentary vote counts.   In this episode of 

Elections Across the World, Joshua Paisley is joined by Nicole Beardsworth, Professor of Politics at the University of the Witwatersrand, to make sense of the chaotic Zambian Election and what it means for the country's democratic credentials.  

To find out how to get involved as an observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

Elections Across the World: Zambia Special 

Should voting be compulsory? In this podcast, Joshua Paisley is joined by Shane Singh, Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, to ask whether compulsory voting could be the answer to declining democratic participation.   

Compulsory voting is not a new idea, with its roots in antiquity. The policy was introduced in Belgium in 1893 and in Australia in 1924. So why haven't more democracies followed suit, and what would it actually take to make it work?   

To find out how to get involved as an observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

How to Increase Turnout: Compulsory Voting

In this episode, Joshua Paisley is joined by Professor of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield, Kate Dommett, to explain how social media has affected UK Elections.   

To find out how to get involved as an observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

The Effects of Social Media on our Elections

This episode marks the start of a Democracy Volunteers Series where we discuss the radical ideas that countries across the world have implemented to increase turnout and voter participation in elections.   

In this episode, with the help of Deputy Head for Development and Associate Professor of Technology Research at the University of Tartu Professor Mihkel Solvak, Joshua Paisley breaks down internet voting. A system pioneered by Estonia in 2005, now this form of voting accounts for nearly half of all votes cast during Estonian elections.   

Tune in to hear Mihkel’s explanation of what internet voting is, and why its secure. As well as how the UK could implement a style of internet voting into its elections?  To find out how to get involved as an observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

How to Increase Turnout: Internet Voting

In this episode, Joshua Paisley breaks down the elections that shaped our world in July 2026.   

With the help of Professor Martin Evans and Dr Dalia Ghanem, Joshua discusses the recent Algerian Election and its turnout crisis.   

To find out how to get involved as an observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

Elections Across the World: July

In this episode, Democracy Volunteers goes back further than any election we've ever observed - 2,500 years, to 5th-century BC Athens, credited as the birthplace of democracy.   

Today, Joshua Paisley is joined by Josiah Ober, Professor of Political Science and Classics at Stanford University, to answer how true that claim really is and whether anything of Athenian democracy survives in our systems today.   

To find out how to get involved as an observer: https://democracyvolunteers.org/

The Story of Democracy in Ancient Greece

What does Democracy Volunteers actually do, and why does it matter? In this episode, host Joshua Paisley sits down with Director John Ault and Deputy Director Harry Busz to uncover the who, what and why of the UK's leading election observation organisations.  

Our discussion ranges from why independent observers are still needed in regulated democracies to the countries that won't let observers in at all. 

This is the essential introduction to Democracy Volunteers. To find out how to get involved as an observer: democracyvolunteers.org

Inside Democracy Volunteers 

The Democracy Volunteers Podcast brings you insightful coverage of elections—past, present, local, national, and international. Our team of experts dives into the stories behind the ballots, speaking 

The Democracy Volunteers Podcast · Zencastr

The Democracy Volunteers Podcast

The Democracy Volunteers Podcast brings you insightful coverage of elections—past, present, local, national, and international. Our team of experts dives into the stories behind the ballots, speaking with candidates, campaigners, organisers and winners to uncover the narratives you won’t hear anywhere else.

Tune in for a deeper look at the elections that shape our world. Our podcast seeks to inform our listeners about the world of elections and election observation.

We are nonpartisan, and so is it. We interview behind elections and democracy. Subscribe today or just listen in.