Mathematical Biology Seminar Aanjaneya Kumar, Santa Fe Institute, Tueday, April 29, 2025 2:00pm in LCB 215 Voter turnout, victory margins, and universality Abstract: Elections for public offices in democratic nations are large-scale examples of collective decision-making. In this talk, I will discuss a seemingly "universal" pattern that emerges in the statistics of competition in elections across the world, spanning multiple decades and electoral scales. Using a simple mathematical model, I will show how such a robust universality can arise and illustrate the results through empirical election data from 34 countries. The deviations from this universal trend could indicate potential electoral malpractice.