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The Electoral Reform Society operates on a simple premise - that politics can be better than it is. We are campaigning for a better democracy. Our vision is a representative democracy fit for the 21st century. We know that every year that passes with our steam age political system still in place is a missed opportunity for the people of Britain.

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Here's a brief explanation of AV and why it's clearly a better system that our current First Past the Post, and why we think you should vote YES on May 5th. UPDATE - There's now a handy poster / leaflet version you can print out and pin up!

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The Electoral Reform Society is an independent campaigning organisation working to champion the rights of voters and build a better democracy in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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Just how bad was the turn out in the elections for police and crime commissioners?

The Electoral Reform Society predicted a final turnout of just 18.5% nationally in the PCC vote - but the actual result was even worse with just, 15% of the population voting in this election. So, how does that compare?

Well, stepping momentarily outside the political sphere, 15,488,019 votes were cast during the 2010 edition of The X Factor, equivalent to 23.18% of those eligible to vote (includes Ireland). This figure gives an inflated idea of the number of people taking part, with individuals able to cast multiple votes, but provides an interesting reference point nonetheless.

Today's figure certainly makes it one of the worst turnouts ever - coming in lower than that in the Manchester Central by-election yesterday, which was itself the lowest by-election turnout ever, lower than the previous record of 19.1% in Leeds Central in 1999.

We have turnout figures for the vast majority of elections since 1918 - including general elections, local, European and major referendums, all thanks to the House of Commons Library. This is what the data shows.

Basically, Brits don't vote in elections that aren't general. The highest turnout ever was in the general election of 1950, won by Labour's Clement Attlee. In fact the average turnout for general elections between 1918 and 2010 is a respectable 73.3%, with the lowest being war-torn Britain's 57.2% in 1918.

By contrast, local election average turnouts have been shrinking - to 42.3%, with the lowest ever being 1998's 28.8%. And even the high-profile votes for London's mayor average only 37.9% - just above the European vote.

But that pales against the lowest-ever vote in a European election of 24% turnout in 1999. That's lower than the UK's first ever European vote of 32.35% in 1979. The European election average turnout for the UK is just 33.52%.

The data also covers major constitutional referendums in Wales and Scotland - with the two Scottish ones of 1979 and 1997 averaging 62% compared to 54.35% in Wales.

Data summary

Download the data

* DATA: download the full spreadsheet

NEW! Buy our book

More open data
* Facts are Sacred: the power of data (on Kindle)
World government data
Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian
* Search the world's government data with our gateway

Development and aid data

* Search the world's global development data with our gateway

Can you do something with this data?

* Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group
* Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
UK election historic turnouts since 1918

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Just how bad was the turn out in the elections for police and crime commissioners? The Electoral Reform Society predicted a final turnout of just 18.5% nationally in the PCC vote - but the actual result was even worse with just, 15% of the population voting in this election.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Just how bad was the turn out in the elections for police and crime commissioners?

The Electoral Reform Society predicted a final turnout of just 18.5% nationally in the PCC vote - but the actual result was even worse with just, 15% of the population voting in this election. So, how does that compare?

Well, stepping momentarily outside the political sphere, 15,488,019 votes were cast during the 2010 edition of The X Factor, equivalent to 23.18% of those eligible to vote (includes Ireland). This figure gives an inflated idea of the number of people taking part, with individuals able to cast multiple votes, but provides an interesting reference point nonetheless.

Today's figure certainly makes it one of the worst turnouts ever - coming in lower than that in the Manchester Central by-election yesterday, which was itself the lowest by-election turnout ever, lower than the previous record of 19.1% in Leeds Central in 1999.

We have turnout figures for the vast majority of elections since 1918 - including general elections, local, European and major referendums, all thanks to the House of Commons Library. This is what the data shows.

Basically, Brits don't vote in elections that aren't general. The highest turnout ever was in the general election of 1950, won by Labour's Clement Attlee. In fact the average turnout for general elections between 1918 and 2010 is a respectable 73.3%, with the lowest being war-torn Britain's 57.2% in 1918.

By contrast, local election average turnouts have been shrinking - to 42.3%, with the lowest ever being 1998's 28.8%. And even the high-profile votes for London's mayor average only 37.9% - just above the European vote.

But that pales against the lowest-ever vote in a European election of 24% turnout in 1999. That's lower than the UK's first ever European vote of 32.35% in 1979. The European election average turnout for the UK is just 33.52%.

The data also covers major constitutional referendums in Wales and Scotland - with the two Scottish ones of 1979 and 1997 averaging 62% compared to 54.35% in Wales.

Data summary

Download the data

* DATA: download the full spreadsheet

NEW! Buy our book

More open data
* Facts are Sacred: the power of data (on Kindle)
World government data
Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian
* Search the world's government data with our gateway

Development and aid data

* Search the world's global development data with our gateway

Can you do something with this data?

* Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group
* Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
UK election historic turnouts since 1918

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Just how bad was the turn out in the elections for police and crime commissioners? The Electoral Reform Society predicted a final turnout of just 18.5% nationally in the PCC vote - but the actual result was even worse with just, 15% of the population voting in this election.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here's a brief explanation of AV and why it's clearly a better system that our current First Past the Post, and why we think you should vote YES on May 5th. UPDATE - There's now a handy poster / leaflet version you can print out and pin up!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Electoral Reform Society operates on a simple premise - that politics can be better than it is. We are campaigning for a better democracy. Our vision is a representative democracy fit for the 21st century. We know that every year that passes with our steam age political system still in place is a missed opportunity for the people of Britain.