13NFL1-Compulsory Voting Page 155 of 163 www.victorybriefs.com THE POOR DON’T VOTE BECAUSE OF ACCESS BARRIERS, NOT APATHY. Sarah Birch Reader in Politics
at the University of Essex, The
case for compulsory voting Public Policy Research, March-May (2009), pp. 21-27. Why do the poor not come together to exercise their electoral muscle The fact is that the economically deprived face a severe coordination problem in the political sphere. Often poor also in the resources
most useful in politics – time, money,
connections, sophisticated
communication skills – they have only their vote.
At the same time, they have little reason to use their vote if others
in their position do not do so, and little means of coordinating with those others to ensure that they collectively act to represent their interests.
