[EM] compulsory voting

[Dave Ketchum]

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 18:24:36 -0400 Warren Smith wrote:

> If there is no compulsory voting, then
> it makes no real sense to vote.  Logically.
> Because the benefit you get from voting is
> the chance you will create or break a tie, time
> the benefit of the resultign election-result
> change to you personally.   In large elections,
> do the arithmetic to conclude that it is not worth the time and expense of
> bothering to vote.


Having, supposedly, convinced me that voting is not worth doing, you 
propose forcing me to do this useless task.

Makes no sense.  However, I reject your arithmetic.

If 5% of the voters, working together as in tug-of-war, are likely enough 
to sway the results, 5% is a constant and about as easy to round up for a 
large election as for a small one.

> 
> So all large elections in the absence of compulsory voting
> are decided by irrational people (where I
> use the word "irrational" in the sense of economists).
> Is that a good thing?  I doubt it.  It also allows
> vast manipulation of elections by manipulating turnout
> via adept use of irrational-pyschology.  
> 
> SO I am in favor both of compulsory voting, and
> of making it easier/cheaper to vote.


So I remain against compulsory voting.

I am for making it easier fr voters to express their desires.


> Warren D Smith
> 
> (sorry for the spelling, my xface is poor...)

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  Dave Ketchum   108 Halstead Ave, Owego, NY  13827-1708   607-687-5026
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