Why Do Citizens Vote?

Cooter goes throw the complex query of why citizens vote. Arguments based on two broad types of reason have explained the issue: material self-interests (which candidate will do more to increase my own wealth and power) and public interest (which candidate will benefit the country more according to my political philosophy). Different scholars have different opinions on which of these reasons prevails but they all conclude that none of them alone can justify the current rates of voter participation (that, contrary to common perception, are unjustifiably high according to economists). In general, the effort required to vote exceeds the expected benefit for a self-interested voter because the power of a single vote in a general election (its ability to affect the outcome) is extremely low and this does not encourage citizens to vote.

The phenomena of political participation appealing to the social nature of people have been developed in the expressive voting theory. In addition, survey research reveals that citizens tend to vote for candidates who promote the interests of the group to which they belong. So Cooter concludes that both motives are combined into the mixed-motive theory of voting (p.22). He translates this in neoclassical economics terms: pB+V ≥∁ , where C is the opportunity cost of voting (usually the value of the time required to vote), p denotes the power of a vote, B denotes the benefit from voting (the increase in citizen wealth or power obtained by getting his preferred outcome in the election) and V represents the value to a citizen of fulfilling its civic duty. In other words, a citizen decides to vote if the expected benefit from voting (pB) and the satisfaction of fulfilling its civic duty (V) exceed the effort required to vote