13NFL1-Compulsory Voting
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LOW TURNOUT CREATES A VICIOUS CYCLES THAT CANNOT BE BROKEN WITHOUT
COMPULSORY VOTING.
Armin Schafer 11, Fellow at the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies in Delmenhorst], Republican liberty and compulsory voting, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies discussion paper, No. 11/17, 2011. What is more, the causal arrow between turnout rates and income inequality seems to run in both directions. Lower turnout leads to more inequality, as just discussed, while rising inequality in turn depresses electoral turnout (Anderson/Beramendi 2008; Solt 2008, 2010). Under these circumstances, a vicious circle might arise, in which decision-makers direct policies at a median voter who less and less resembles the average citizen (Hill 2006: 216). As a result, egalitarian policies
– higher taxes for the rich, urban development in deprived areas, universal healthcare, or public investment in early childhood education
– become less likely, while larger sections of the lower classes might feel alienated from politics and conclude that politics is simply not a game worth playing (Solt 2008: 58), which will make voters even less representative. Under voluntary voting, it is hard to see how this circle can be broken.
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