Sept/Oct 2013 Aff: Prevents Free-Riding foundationbriefs.com Page 43 of 104 CV shifts the position of the median voter JMR Chong, Alberto and Mauricio Olivera. On Compulsory Voting and Income Inequality in a Cross Section of Countires.” Inter-American Development Bank. May 2005. Pg 7-8. In the absence of compulsory voting, those individuals who may benefit the most by voting somewhat paradoxically tend not to vote. This maybe in part because related transaction costs tend to be
extremely high for this group, as individuals do not adequately assess the positive externalities of voting outcomes. Lack of information or misinformation maybe a source of problems as well. In fact, there is ample evidence that the sample of individuals who vote voluntarily is not representative of the entire population of eligible voters. When a compulsory voting rule brings in those voters who would not vote voluntarily, this changes the demographic composition of the effective electorate.
Extensive data on income, age, education, race, and soon suggest that these characteristics differ between voters and the remaining eligible population (Crain
and Leonard, 1993). In fact, it has been argued that eligible nonvoters tend to be poorer,
less educated, younger, and disproportionately composed of minority group members when compared to voluntary voters.
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