Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Why I Voted

To put it bluntly, casting your ballot solely to effect the outcome of the election is irrational. Let me put it in an equation: (benefit per person from your candidate) x (300 million people) - (personal cost of voting) = Expected Utility of Voting

I'm believe that this equation equals a negative number for most, even if you're in a swing state. So you may ask, why did Harrison vote today?

1) To both make myself feel good and to support those who think like me.

2) My Republican votes for the United States Congress were votes for a divided government.

3) My Libertarian votes for President, Governor, as well as other minor positions were to call attention to my team. Every incremental vote gives the two major parties the incentive to move that way.

4) My reasons to not vote would have been at least partially motivated by my self-deceptive thoughts on my political superiority,

5) It gives me political season closure.

6 comments:

  1. Come on, there's way more in that equation. What about the good feelings you get (rational or irrational) from doing your part in our democratic process? Surely that can be seen as a benefit. What about the good you believe your candidate will do for you and the country?

    Regardless, good reasons for voting, all.

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  2. You missed what I said:

    "casting your ballot solely to effect the outcome of the election is irrational."

    Soley being the key word there. Those good feelings are surely a reason why many people vote. The difference is consumption vs. production.

    "What about the good you believe your candidate will do for you and the country?"

    The benefits to the total population (300 million) is measured in the equation.

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  3. Just for the sake of clarity ... "(benefit per person from your candidate)" is actually marginal benefit per person from your candidate versus the alternative(s) ... not the total benefit per person of your candidate ...

    And to eliminate Justin's issues overall, a reworking of the equation:
    (marginal per-person benefit of your candidate winning versus the alternative(s)) * (total population) + (personal benefit of voting: "good feelings", illegal reward from Starbucks, Restaurant O, Ben and Jerry's, etc., cool sticker, "respect" of your friends, et al) - (personal cost of voting: opportunity cost of time in line, fuel/wear-and-tear cost of driving to/from voting location, danger of driving to/from voting location, opportunity cost of time spent educating yourself to be able to make an informed decision for your votes)

    That equation puts the value of your candidate winning versus the cost/benefit of you casting a vote. It doesn't actually take into account the likelihood that your vote affects the outcome of the race. In SC, there were approximately 1.6 million votes cast for president, so the first part of the equation should be:

    (marginal per-person benefit of your candidate winning versus the alternative(s)) * (total population of the US) / (total votes cast in your election segment)

    And it breaks down further when you're in a state that leans heavily one way or the other, as the likelihood that your vote affects the outcome decreases if the outcome is leaning one way or the other.

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  4. In case you guys didn't pick up on it, Ed was a math major, ha ha.

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  5. Gettys9:21 PM

    Reasons Why I voted:

    1. you get free chickfila & starbucks in the hospital cafeteria if u have a "I voted" sticker.

    2. so i have an answer when harrison asks me who i voted for.

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  6. Ok, I just ran the equation and I found that I got +1,598,232.1 units of utility out of my vote (with a margin of error of +/-13.3%). So glad I voted. Thanks guys!

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You are the reason why I do not write privately. I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or not.