Earlier this week, Virginia was one of the first states to start in-person voting. Despite being about 50 days from the election, voters came out in mass to cast their votes. In Fairfax County, there were hundreds of people in line, who waited up to four hours to vote (!!). Hearing of these events throughout Virginia made me think of the Johnson reading and his argument that rational, self-interested individuals do not vote.
The income lost by waiting four hours will most likely not be greater than the benefits of casting an individual vote (MC>MB). A minimum wage worker would have cost of $7.25*4=$29, which is significantly larger than the pennies of benefit from a national election. A rational actor would then weigh these cost and benefits and decide not to vote. However, clearly these people believe they received significant benefit, or they would not have wasted their time. The chances of these votes swinging the election are abysmal, especially in a blue dominated county. So why do it?
One explanation could be the social pressure to vote. Especially in Northern Virginia, being politically active is a determinate of social positioning and respect. Having the ability to tell coworkers, neighbors, etc. that they were so dedicated to democracy that they waited 4 hours to vote may be a source of social capital. I think that Johnson would agree that these voters are more motivated by the private rationality of saying they voted than the actual impact of their vote. That is, the greatest benefit they get isn't from who wins, but rather from saying they did their civic duty to vote in this critical election.
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