Voting, Incentives for

ACCORDING TO AN influential 1957 analysis by Anthony Downs, applying economic theory to voting, it is irrational to vote. This is true because for each individual, the odds of their vote changing the outcome of an election is extremely small. Therefore, voting makes little sense if changing the outcome of the election is the goal.

However, people continue to vote, because there are a number of incentives for voting that encourage people to go to the polls. These incentives might be social, moral, or psychological, such as misunderstanding the odds of affecting the outcome, civic duty, or a sense of being part of a collective of voters. In some cases, more concrete incentives exist, such as economic enticements, or compulsory voting.

The primary incentive to vote is that citizens want their parties and candidates to win the election. Though the true odds of one vote changing the outcome are miniscule, some voters may not consciously or even unconsciously realize this. This is similar to the psychological mechanisms that propel people to buy lottery tickets. They overestimate their own chances of getting lucky. Misguided optimism may not be the only reason that people motivated by the desire to see their candidates win might find an incentive to vote. They also may have a sense of belonging to a collective of voters. This logic is along the lines of “if everybody did that…” If everybody refused to vote because his or her vote wouldn't be the tiebreaker, the democratic system would cease to function.

The is related to the concept of civic duty. Some people feel compelled to vote because they have been socialized into democratic norms and they believe it is their duty as good citizens to participate on Election Day. They vote because they have internalized these democratic values, or because they know it is expected within the community, and they want others to see them as good citizens. This is an especially strong incentive in smaller communities where neighbors might be more aware of each other's behavior. This tendency to vote due to social pressure has in the past been exploited by local party officials who would take note of who had voted through the day and make visits to nonvoters to encourage them. Beyond civic duty, some citizens feel compelled simply to express their opinions publicly, to have their voices heard, even if they realize they likely will not change the outcome.

More concrete incentives for voting also exist. In some times and places, financial incentives have been offered. Some crasser examples include being handed a pint of beer or a shot of whiskey for voting in early American elections, to (generally illegal) offerings of cash, or other items of value in return for votes. In 2006, a ballot measure in the state of Arizona proposed establishing a voter lottery in which each voter's name would be entered into a pool from which one lucky voter's name would be drawn. That voter would win $1 million. Incentives such as these may entice some apathetic citizens to vote, but it is unclear if they would cast informed votes, as their motivations would be monetary rather than civic.

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