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Increasing turnout: a compelling case?

Increasing turnout: a compelling case?
Increasing turnout: a compelling case?
Recently several thinkers have endorsed compulsion or other measures to increase turnout and revitalise democracy. This article argues that such measures are misguided, because lower turnout (even if unequal across social groups) is not necessarily undemocratic – indeed, it may serve democratic values by, for example, making it more likely that decisions really are made by the relevant constituency, with those most affected getting more say. Encouraging others to vote, or even to turn out, runs the risk of distorting electoral outcomes. If there is no clear democratic case for compulsion, then we should not risk even small limits on individual liberty.
70-77
Saunders, Ben
aed7ba9f-f519-4bbf-a554-db25b684037d
Saunders, Ben
aed7ba9f-f519-4bbf-a554-db25b684037d

Saunders, Ben (2010) Increasing turnout: a compelling case? Politics, 30 (1), 70-77. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-9256.2009.01368.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Recently several thinkers have endorsed compulsion or other measures to increase turnout and revitalise democracy. This article argues that such measures are misguided, because lower turnout (even if unequal across social groups) is not necessarily undemocratic – indeed, it may serve democratic values by, for example, making it more likely that decisions really are made by the relevant constituency, with those most affected getting more say. Encouraging others to vote, or even to turn out, runs the risk of distorting electoral outcomes. If there is no clear democratic case for compulsion, then we should not risk even small limits on individual liberty.

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More information

Published date: 5 January 2010
Organisations: Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 370357
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/370357
DOI: doi:10.1111/j.1467-9256.2009.01368.x
PURE UUID: 0a247868-67e9-4b45-a509-532716fbfc70
ORCID for Ben Saunders: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5147-6397

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Date deposited: 22 Oct 2014 11:48
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:50

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Author: Ben Saunders ORCID iD

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