To Vote or Not to Vote: Research Methods to Become a Rational Voter

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Authors
Bekofske, Laura L.
Issue Date
1991
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Thesis
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en_US
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Research Projects
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Abstract
This is a paper in which methods of becoming a rational voter have been presented. In the content of the paper, the nature of the political party is explained. This is to help people reduce of the cost of becoming a rational voter. This is best achieved by associating oneself with a political party. Also, ways in which to lower the cost of obtaining information to vote is included. The benefits and the costs of voting are also developed in this paper. Some studies are used to help exemplify rational voting. It is extremely difficult to determine whether a person should vote or abstain. Therefore, equations and formulas have been presented to help a person determine the voting decision of whether to vote or abstain. Some methods of reducing the costs of initially gaining political information to make the voting decision are presented. The main way to reduce the costs associated with voting while gaining maximum utility is to associating with a particular political party. As a result from this extensive study of rational voting, I found that indeed it is impossible to accurately determine the costs and benefits associated from voting. However, people must, to their best knowledge, estimate these costs and benefits that would be incurred from each candidate. Also, there are many methods explained which could help a person become a rational voter. This may even mean abstaining from voting in some elections. In conclusion, this paper could potentially help a person become a rational voter and utilize the United states form of representative democracy to its fullest extent.
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iv, 49 p.
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U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
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