Updated Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Overview of “The Ethics and Rationality of Voting”

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has published an updated and expanded version of its entry on “The Ethics and Rationality of Voting.” It is authored by Georgetown Prof. Jason Brennan, a leading expert on democratic theory. Here is his summary of the issues covered:

This entry focuses on six major questions concerning the rationality and morality of voting:

1. Is it rational for an individual citizen to vote?
2. Is there a moral duty to vote?
3. Are there moral obligations regarding how citizens vote?
4. Is it justifiable for governments to compel citizens to vote?
5. Is it permissible to buy, trade, and sell votes?
6. Who ought to have the right to vote, and should every citizen have an equal vote?

 

The article is a great summary of debates over these issues, and review of relevant literature. To me, it is striking how much of the debate over all six issues turns at least in part on the problem of voter ignorance. For example, whether and to what extent people have a duty to vote depends in significant part on whether they can do so in an informed manner. Similarly, many current and proposed limitations on voting rights are justified by political knowledge considerations (e.g. – this is the standard rationale for barring children, and for requiring immigrants to pass a test of political knowledge to become citizens – one most native-born citizens would fail if they had to take it without studying.

I have long argued that voter ignorance is a major challenge for democracy and democratic theory, and recent events indicate the problem is even more severe than I previously thought. There is no easy and quick solution. But I I assess a range of possible options in a recent book chapter on “Top-Down and Bottom-Up Solutions to the Problem of Political Ignorance,” and in my book Democracy and Political Ignorance.

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