Stop Voter Participation Shaming

Electing Not to Vote Isn’t Always Irresponsibly Shirking Civic Duty

It is one of the few remaining and explicitly condoned social pressures in the United States. Its familiar icon, the “I Voted” sticker, has been transformed, by an overwhelming sense of negative judgement, from a quaint little symbol of quiet patriotic pride to a passive-agressive instrument for identifying those who dare to refuse to cave to peer expectation.

It isn’t just about sensitivity and shaming, though. The overzealous and inescapable insistence that every individual must vote is misguided, and it actively works against the best outcomes for the country by any measure.

The idea that everyone should vote on every issue, on every race, and/or in every election cycle is predicated on a number of false assumptions that most of us are too busy patting our own backs and criticising others to ever take the time to question.

“If you want to improve the system by promoting something, promote causes and people you believe to be beneficial; don’t force feed the voting process itself.”

THE “MORE IS BETTER” FALLACY