The Duty to Vote

Description

What do we owe those in our communities? What do we owe strangers? In a sense, those who vie for political office locally and nationally do so, at least in part, from duty and obligation to their fellow citizens, to many they do not know and may never meet. In a democratic society, those who wish to participate in politics have the unbridled freedom to do exactly that: whether as leaders, or those who campaign for politicians, or as people who simply struggle to have their voice heard in everything from town hall meetings to protests. But by the same logic, we also have the freedom not to participate: the freedom not to care to be heard at all.

Not so, says Julia Maskivker: such logic collapses when applied to the act of voting. Not only should we vote if we can--we must vote. Even when confronted with two unappealing candidates, or with ballot propositions whose effects we will barely feel, or with the fact that our single vote might never tip an election, we must vote. We have a duty of conscience to vote with care when doing so comes at so small a cost. Maskivker, a political theorist and philosopher, argues that those fortunate to live in democratic societies with freely elected leaders all share, simply, a moral obligation to vote.

The book's argument adds a fresh and uncompromising perspective to voting ethics literature, which is dominated by views that reject the morality and rationality of voting. Maskivker's line of reasoning contends that the duty to vote is a "duty of common pursuit," which helps society to achieve good governance. She compares voting to Samaritan justice, showing that the same duty of assistance that would compel us to help a stranger in need also obligates us to vote to save our fellow citizens from injustice at the hands of bad or even evil leaders.

The book further explores issues of voter incompetence, and how citizens' ignorance can be partly overcome through political reform. Although uninformed voting may lead to bad governance, voting judiciously can be an effective path to justice. In a time of polarization and political turmoil, The Duty to Vote offers a stirring reminder that voting is fundamentally a collective endeavor to protect our communities, and that we all must vote in order to preserve the free societies within which we live.

About the Author

Julia Maskivker is Associate Professor of Political Science at Rollins College. She is a political theorist whose research includes issues on distributive justice, equality, and democratic theory.

Reviews

"Who should vote, and why? Against those who would insist we have no duty to vote, or that we must refrain if we cannot do so competently, Julia Maskivker argues that citizens in fact have a duty to vote with care; we are obliged, as Good Samaritans, to act to help our society by casting an informed vote. Drawing both on contemporary political science and political philosophy, The Duty to Vote advances a novel, persuasive argument for this quintessential political activity." -- Melissa Schwartzberg, Silver Professor of Politics, New York University

"Julia Maskivker forcefully argues that every democratic citizen has a duty to cast an informed vote. Doing so contributes to a beneficial collective activity that improves others' lives. In making this argument, Maskivker offer powerful challenges to those pessimists who see voters as invincibly ignorant, who find individuals' votes insignificant because they have only a negligible impact, or who argue that there is nothing "special" about voting, since it is only one among many way to advance the public good. This book is a powerful and well-written corrective to recent skepticism about democracy and the value of political participation. It deserves a wide readership." -- Anna Stilz, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton University

Table of contents

Chapter 1: Introduction: Voting and Justice
Chapter 2: Being a Good Samaritan Requires You to Vote
Chapter 3: What Does It Take to Vote With Care?
Chapter 4: Why is Voting Special?
Chapter 5: Self-Standing Arguments Against the Duty to Vote and Why They Fail
Chapter 6: Voting and Collective Rationality: Final Thoughts