It’s election season in the USA, and we are going to discuss the economics of voting through Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David chose not to vote in the video - why could not voting be a rational decision?
Throughout the video, we discuss several situations with voting:
When it might be appropriate not to vote
How often races are decided by one vote
And more
How often are races decided by one vote?
We will cover this issue in more detail in the video, but it’s worth noting how infrequently races are decided by one vote. This is from the article “Why Vote” published in the NY Times:
So one vote historically has made the difference in fewer than one in 4,000 elections. And these are the small races. Given the long odds of one vote actually making a difference, it can be reasonable for people to choose to skip voting.
Why else is it reasonable to skip voting?
There are a number of reasons, a short, incomplete list includes:
As stated above, the chances your vote will influence the election are zero or close to zero in most races
You might not have the time to study the candidates and the issues they support
You might love a candidate’s stance on one issue but hate their stance on another issue - meaning you don’t really care who wins
You might dislike all candidates and not voting is exercising your right to protest
For more on economics of voting
My friend Jadrian Wooten and I discuss the issue of voting more broadly in our Economics Happy Hour podcast - check that out here.