Authority and DemocracyThe Ethics of Voting

Questions about voting:

• Should everyone have a right to vote?

• Do we have a duty to vote?

• Do we have a duty not to vote (under certain circumstances)?

• When we vote, how should we vote?

• May we appeal to our religious beliefs in deciding how to vote?

• May we vote following our personal interest, or should we always vote

for the common goods?

• Is it permissible to buy, sell or tradte votes?

• Can we be compelled to vote? (Australia)

• Should ballots be secret or public?

What happens when we vote?

When we vote we are collectively responsible for certain outcomes.

These outcomes can be very significant:

• Resources are devoted to certain programs rather than others (e.g.

instead of alleviating poverty, ill-conceived economic policies are

enacted)

• Certain moral rights are restricted (e.g. some people might not be able

to get married, or to have their loved one residing in the same country)

• Serious injustice is perpetrated (e.g. unjust wars are fought, ghettoes

are created, xenophobic policies are enacted)

Why voting is morally significant

Are not we responsible for these outcomes?

With our vote we influence the government. +The government is responsible for producing those outcomes.

NB: our individual vote typically does not count much

But collectively, our votes can have devastating effects

There are moral obligations about how we should act collectively.

Jason Brennan

What should we do? We have no duty to vote. But if we vote, we must vote well.

“Voting well” = voting on the basis of good evidence for what is most likely to promote the

common good.

This requires:

- Knowledge (of facts, theories etc.)

- Rationality

- Motivation (to disregard narrow self-interest)

If we lack one of these 3 we should not vote.

Demanding? No, because there is an easy way to fulfil our duty: not voting.

Bad voters vs good voters

Why are people so bad at voting?

• Social pressure

• Excessive deference to the authority

• Lack of rationality (and appeals to emotions in deciding rational

matters)

Good voters must be:

• Well informed on the facts

• Rational

• Guided by sound moral concerns

Voting well

We should not vote for what we believe will promote the common good, but for what

we justifiably believe will do so.

[What if I believe that the best way to help my child sleep is to regularly give her

valium?]

Implication:

There’s nothing wrong if you don’t vote because you prefer to stay home watching Big

Brother’s reruns

But

You are blameworthy if you are politically active and passionate but vote in a

misinformed or irrational way (even if you are trying to promote the common good!)

The right to vote

You should not vote ≠ you should not have the right to vote

You might have the right to X and yet be morally blameworthy for doing X.

Sometimes we have a right to do wrong (e.g. free-speech)

However, we might ask: why should we not enforce standards of good voting?

Examples:

- Test of competence to decide whether we can vote

- Plural voting

The role of autonomyWouldn’t deprive people of the right to vote interfere with their moral

autonomy?

But

There are limits to our right to exercise our moral autonomy.

I cannot invoke my right to exercise my moral autonomy if doing so will

wrongfully harm you (e.g. by swinging a sword on the bus).

Why should voting be treated differently? (Think about the difference

between instrumental and non-instrumental justifications for democracy)