ABSTRACT
Political processes, like elections and voting, are inherently spatial by nature. Geography plays a key role in understanding them. This paper employs GIS and spatial statistics to identify and examine the spatial patterns of voter turnout in Manila during the 2013 and 2016 Philippine elections. Choropleth maps, Ripley’s k-function, Moran’s index and Getis-Ord G ∗ i statistic are utilized to analyze the spatial patterns of voter turnout at the barangay level. Initial observations on the turnout data showed that higher turnout rates are found in highly populated areas with a bustling and thriving business sector, while lower turnout rates are found in areas where a lot of government offices, private offices and tourist attractions are located. These observations are found to be consistent with the voter turnout hot spots and cold spots identified by the study. The results show that there are spatial patterns in the voter turnout in Manila, and that these patterns change over time.
