Deliberative democracy and compulsory voting

Abstract

Deliberative democrats tend to be skeptical about elections as mechanisms for deliberation, and with good reason. But the reality is that elections will likely persist as the primary means by which we make decisions–indirectly–about how we are governed. By contrast, deliberative democracy will likely continue in a supplementary role because of its feasibility problem, something that many pragmatic deliberative democrats now accept. It therefore pays to reflect on what kinds of elections best serve deliberative ideals and sensibilities. Although some deliberative democrats have rejected the idea of compulsory voting, I argue that they should be more open to the idea due to the fact that compulsory voting elections are more inclusive and less subject to distortions of unequal political power than are voluntary ones. They are also better able to reflect the objective interests of voters and to protect the conditions necessary for deliberation to occur.