The Pragmatist's Guide to Governance by Simone Collins & Simone Collins

Author:Simone Collins & Simone Collins [Collins, Malcolm & Collins, Simone]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798987522523
Publisher: Omniscion Press

Voting on a topic-by-topic basis exemplifies more nuanced complications around vote counting and collection. Topical voting is common with special ballot measures on issues, as seen in states like California where elections can more easily be held on specific measures. Despite superficially appearing to increase voter participation in a democracy, these systems are almost always a bad idea if the subjects being voted on cost additional money or need to be executed individually.

For example:

If you allow votes to be taken on a case-by-case basis and ask a question like “Should teachers be paid more?” teachers will be far more likely to take the time to go out and vote on the measure even though the outcome affects everyone.

“Should teachers be paid more?” intrinsically biases the voter towards yes, as the question is framed in the context of who gets more and not who gets less. Here it would make sense to frame said question against the cost: “Should teachers be paid more, using a tax increase of X%?”

Even in this condition, it is easy to hide costs by indicating that costs will be borne by a minority e.g., “Should teachers be paid more, using an X% increase in taxes on companies in Y region earning over $Z annually?” In this case, the text is describing a cost that will hurt the region in terms of jobs, income, new companies, etc. but it would be difficult to explain those costs on a ballot.

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