10-29-2014, 03:10 PM
Australia has mandatory voting. I assume that you can spoil or decline your ballot once you show up at your polling station. Actually, does someone know what happened with Waterloo's machines when not all the boxes were filled in?
Random voting with high turnout isn't necessarily better than what we have now. I would think that some would study up on the candidates. But I don't know how many. It is well known that the first name on the ballot gets more votes than it should in a randomized order. Not a concern in most races this year, but it can matter in a close race.
In general I don't think voting is super rational, but it does reflect general satisfaction with the way things are going (which is good) or a feeling of disenfranchisement and that one vote doesn't matter (less good!) I don't know how to tell the difference between these possibilities.
Random voting with high turnout isn't necessarily better than what we have now. I would think that some would study up on the candidates. But I don't know how many. It is well known that the first name on the ballot gets more votes than it should in a randomized order. Not a concern in most races this year, but it can matter in a close race.
In general I don't think voting is super rational, but it does reflect general satisfaction with the way things are going (which is good) or a feeling of disenfranchisement and that one vote doesn't matter (less good!) I don't know how to tell the difference between these possibilities.