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The Distinctive Value of Elections and the Case for Compulsory Voting
Author(s) -
Chapman Emilee Booth
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of political science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.347
H-Index - 170
eISSN - 1540-5907
pISSN - 0092-5853
DOI - 10.1111/ajps.12393
Subject(s) - voting , disapproval voting , democracy , political science , value (mathematics) , straight ticket voting , first past the post voting , political economy , law and economics , government (linguistics) , single member district , politics , public administration , law , sociology , computer science , machine learning , linguistics , philosophy
In this article, I defend compulsory voting on the grounds that it reinforces the distinctive and valuable role that elections play in contemporary democracy. Some scholars have suggested that mandatory voting laws can improve government responsiveness to members of poor and marginalized groups who are less likely to vote. Critics of compulsory voting object that citizens can participate in a wide variety of ways; voting is not important enough to justify forcing people to do it. These critics neglect the importance of voting's particular role in contemporary democratic practice, though. The case for compulsory voting rests on an implicit, but widely shared, understanding of elections as special moments of mass participation that manifest the equal political authority of all citizens. The most prominent objections to mandatory voting fail to appreciate this distinctive role for voting and the way it is embedded within a broader democratic framework.