Electing Police and Crime Commissioners – an important milestone in expanding control by elected representatives? or a disaster in the making?

An encouraging opinion poll this weekend suggests that turnout in this Thursday’s Police Commissioner elections may be only slightly lower than in local elections, whereas other informed estimates have been below 10%. Patrick Dunleavy explains that this is the first time the Supplementary Vote will be used across England and Wales, but criticizes the low level of effort by the Electoral Commission to get information about candidates across to voters.