Should Secret Voting Be Mandatory? - Couverture souple

Johnson, James; Orr, Susan

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 150953816X ISBN 13 : 9781509538164

Editeur : Polity Press, 2020

Synopsis

The secrecy of the ballot, a crucial basic element of representative democracy, is under threat. Attempts to make voting more convenient in the face of declining turnout - and the rise of the "ballot selfie" - are making it harder to guarantee secrecy.

Leading scholars James Johnson and Susan Orr go back to basics to analyze the fundamental issues surrounding the secret ballot, showing how secrecy works to protect voters from coercion and bribery. They argue, however, that this protection was always incomplete: faced with effective ballot secrecy, powerful actors turned to manipulating turnout - buying presence or absence at the polls - to obtain their electoral goals. The authors proceed to show how making both voting and voting in secret mandatory would foreclose both undue influence and turnout manipulation. This would enhance freedom for voters by liberating them from coercion or bribery in their choice of both whether and how to vote.

This thought-provoking and insightful text will be invaluable for students and scholars of democratic theory, elections and voting, and political behavior.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

James Johnson is Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester.
Susan Orr is Associate Professor of Political Science at the College of Brockport, State University of New York.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Polity Press
• Date d'édition: 2020
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 150953816X
• ISBN 13: 9781509538164
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 140
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Easy Access System Europe Oü, 16879218; gpsr.requests@easproject.com; ; Mustamäe tee 50, 10621, Tallinn, Estonia; Tallinn; 10621; Estonie