[EL] Voter turnout

Thu Apr 10 17:14:25 PDT 2014

The article I linked to talks about enforcement.  Turns out it motivates 
a lot of voting, even though punishment is rarely enforced.

My favorite enforcement story is the Italian example of posting the 
names of non-voters in the town square.  Not sure if they still do that.

On 4/10/2014 5:09 PM, Bill Maurer wrote:
>
> Craig,
>
> An interesting and thoughtful take, as usual.
>
> I'm curious, though, as to how compulsory compulsory voting would be.  
> Would it be a fine for not voting?  How many people would incur the 
> fine instead of voting?  I would imagine a lot (depending on how high 
> it is).  Would it be cops rounding up people to drive them to the 
> polls?  I can't imagine that that would cause people to be big into 
> volunteering.  And does the spillover effect apply in situations where 
> the people who are participating in politics are doing so against 
> their will?
>
> I literally had no idea that compulsory voting is a "thing" and am 
> fascinated as to how folks have approached some of the issues it presents.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Bill
>
> *From:*law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu 
> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] *On Behalf Of 
> *Craig Holman
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 10, 2014 3:31 PM
> *To:* law-election at uci.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] Voter turnout
>
> Colleagues:
>
> The recent discussion of mandatory voting brings me back to Aren 
> Lijphart's 1996 presidential address before the annual meeting of the 
> American Political Science Association [re-published in the 91 
> American Political Science Review (1997)]. I found the lecture 
> enthralling. Here are a couple snippets:
>
> "Themostimportantargumentinfavorofcompulsory 
> votingisitscontributiontohighandrelativelyequal 
> voterturnout.Threeadditional,morespeculative,advantagesofcompulsoryvoting,however,areworth 
> mentioning.Oneisthattheincreaseinvotingparticipationmaystimulatestrongerparticipationandinterest 
> inotherpoliticalactivities:"Peoplewhoparticipate 
> inpoliticsinonewayarelikelytodosoinanother" 
> (BerelsonandSteiner1964,422).Considerableevidenceexistsofaspillovereffectfromparticipationin 
> theworkplace,churches,andvoluntaryorganizations to 
> politicalparticipation(AlmondandVerba1963, 
> 300-74;Greenberg1986;Lafferty1989;Peterson1992; 
> Sobel1993;Verba,Schlozman,andBrady1995,304- 
> 68;butseealsoGreenberg,Grunberg,andDaniel 1996;Schweizer1995).
>
> "Second,compulsoryvotingmayhavethebeneficial 
> effectofreducingtheroleofmoneyinpolitics.When 
> almosteverybodyvotes,nolargecampaignfundsare 
> neededtogoadvoterstothepolls,and,inGosnell's 
> (1930,185)words,"electionsarethereforelesscostly, 
> morehonest,andmorerepresentative."Third,mandatoryvotingmaydiscourageattackadvertising-andhencemaylessenthecynicismanddistrustthatit 
> engenders.StephenAnsolabehereandShantoIyengar 
> (1995)havefoundthatattackadsworkmainlybyselectivelydepressingturnoutamongthosenotlikelyto 
> votefortheattacker.Whenalmosteverybodyvotes, 
> attacktacticslosemostoftheirlure.
>
> "Thatcompulsionofanykindlimitsindividualfreedomcannotbedenied,butthedutytovoteentailsonlyaveryminorrestriction.Itisimportanttoremember, 
> firstofall,thatcompulsory"voting"doesnotmeanan 
> actualdutytocastavalidballot;all thatneedstobe 
> requiredisforcitizenstoshowupatthepolls.Atthat 
> point,citizensmaychoosetorefusetovote;theright 
> /not/tovoteremainsintact.Moreover,compulsoryvotingentails avery 
> smalldecreaseinfreedomcom 
> paredwithmanyotherproblemsofcollectiveaction that 
> democraciessolvebyimposingobligations:jury 
> duty,theobligationtopaytaxes,militaryconscription, 
> compulsoryschoolattendance,andmanyothers.These 
> obligationsaremuchmoreburdensomethantheduty toappear 
> atthepollsonelectiondays."
>
> Craig Holman, Ph.D.
> Government Affairs Lobbyist
> Public Citizen
> 215 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
> Washington, D.C. 20003
> T-(202) 454-5182
> C-(202) 905-7413
> F-(202) 547-7392
> Holman at aol.com <mailto:Holman at aol.com>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scarberry, Mark <Mark.Scarberry at pepperdine.edu 
> <mailto:Mark.Scarberry at pepperdine.edu>>
> To: law-election at UCI.EDU <mailto:law-election at UCI.EDU> 
> <law-election at uci.edu <mailto:law-election at uci.edu>>
> Sent: Thu, Apr 10, 2014 4:54 pm
> Subject: Re: [EL] Voter turnout
>
> Some people see the mere act of voting, without regard to how you vote 
> or even whether you turn in a blank ballot, as an endorsement of the 
> legitimacy of the government. That raises a compelled speech issue. 
> Some religious groups take that view, I think. Some also think that 
> this kind of participation with the government is a rejection of the 
> authority of God in favor of the authority of human beings (and that 
> it would be wrongful even if done privately so that nothing is 
> expressed to anyone else, which complicates the analysis).
>
> There may also be a compelling interest in requiring people to serve 
> in the military (or perform appropriate alternative service) when 
> drafted; it's hard to argue that there is a compelling governmental 
> interest in forcing people to vote.
>
> Can a juror be held in contempt for refusing to participate in 
> deliberations? Or is the juror who refuses simply replaced?
>
> Mark
>
> Mark S. Scarberry
>
> Professor of Law
>
> Pepperdine Univ. School of Law
>
> *From:*law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu 
> <mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> 
> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu 
> <mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu?>] *On Behalf Of 
> *Bill Maurer
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:24 PM
> *To:* 'Rick Hasen'; larrylevine at earthlink.net 
> <mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>; law-election at UCI.EDU 
> <mailto:law-election at UCI.EDU>
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] Voter turnout
>
> Professor Hasen,
>
>
> Thanks for the response.  I would argue that there is separate 
> constitutional authority for the draft and a long-standing common law 
> tradition of jury service.  Given how unpopular being drafted and 
> serving jury duty is proves your third point, though---an elected 
> official promoting mandatory voting would probably come close to 
> seeing his dream realized when practically everyone turns out to vote 
> him out of office.
>
> *From:*Rick Hasen [mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu]
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 10, 2014 9:55 AM
> *To:* Bill Maurer; larrylevine at earthlink.net 
> <mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>; law-election at UCI.EDU 
> <mailto:law-election at UCI.EDU>
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] Voter turnout
>
> We do all the time---jury duty, conscription to the army in times of war.
> Nor do I think there is a First Amendment problem.  No one has to cast 
> a vote for anyone. One may cast a blank ballot.
> That said, I believe the issue is a non-starter in the United States, 
> where there is a widespread libertarian-type resistance to compulsory 
> voting.
> Here' my analysis:
> http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1314963
>
> On 4/10/2014 9:21 AM, Bill Maurer wrote:
>
>     This may be a dumb question, and I am perfectly willing to admit
>     that I know less than nothing about this topic, but wouldn't there
>     be 13^th Amendment problems with compulsory voting? Can the
>     government force someone to take affirmative action not involving
>     the paying of taxes?
>
>     Bill
>
>     *From:*law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
>     <mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>
>     [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] *On Behalf
>     Of *Rick Hasen
>     *Sent:* Wednesday, April 09, 2014 9:35 PM
>     *To:* larrylevine at earthlink.net
>     <mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>; law-election at UCI.EDU
>     <mailto:law-election at UCI.EDU>
>     *Subject:* Re: [EL] Voter turnout
>
>     Compulsory voting?
>
>     On 4/9/14, 9:30 PM, Larry Levine wrote:
>
>         I have been appointed as a member of the Los Angeles City
>         Advisory Commission on Political Reform. I am a member of the
>         sub-committee on research. The main charge of the commission
>         is to look into actions that might increase turnout in
>         municipal elections. Can anyone on the list provide some
>         recent research on this subject? Nothing is off limits --
>         change of election dates, consolidation with other elections,
>         early voting, expanded number of voting dates, etc.
>
>         Thanks,
>
>         Larry
>
>
>
>         _______________________________________________
>
>         Law-election mailing list
>
>         Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu  <mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
>
>         http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
>     -- 
>
>     Rick Hasen
>
>     Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
>
>     UC Irvine School of Law
>
>     401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
>
>     Irvine, CA 92697-8000
>
>     949.824.3072 - office
>
>     949.824.0495 - fax
>
>     rhasen at law.uci.edu  <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
>
>     http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
>
>     http://electionlawblog.org
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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> -- 
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 - office
> 949.824.0495 - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu  <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
> hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/  <http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/>
> http://electionlawblog.org
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-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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