As a member of a sorority here at UVa, there comes a time each school year where we must vote for bylaws. These bylaws are the rules and standards that the members of our chapter are held to. Even greek life organizations as a whole must vote on collective bylaws. First, we vote for representatives to decide which proposals are possible and then, as a chapter, we vote if we should implement these new rules/standards. As a member I am encouraged but not required to vote for these bylaws- and as the economics student I am, I can honestly say that I have never once voted.
Truly I see no value in voting. Even though it takes very little time out of my day thus the opportunity cost is not very large, my benefit is so low it still does not outweigh the cost. My roommate who is on the committee of representatives gets frustrated that I do not vote since it takes so little time and thinks I have a “moral obligation” to do so- so, if i ever voted it would be for her due to the social pressure. Also, I see no reason to be informed on these bylaws since I “voted” for representatives to do this for me. This concept represents rational ignorance. Lastly, I know that my vote will not influence the outcome as these bylaws almost always pass- so the odds of me being a tie-breaker are very low. I just do not have the incentive to invest my time to read through these new bylaws either. So overall, I’m just a rational voter.
1 comment:
A few weeks ago, I learned about Amendment 1 being proposed on the Virginia ballot this election. As stated on the Virginia Department of Elections website, “the proposed amendment would shift the responsibility of drawing these election districts from the General Assembly and the Governor to a bipartisan commission, made up of 16 persons, half being members of the General Assembly and half being citizens of the Commonwealth.” If this amendment passes, it would be a major step to end gerrymandering — the practice of manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency so as to favor one party.
Why did reading your post about sorority bylaws make me think about this proposed amendment? Well, if rational ignorance will drive us to remain ignorant about the candidates and policies that are widely publicized and promoted, I wonder how much information voters have about the policies that are not as widely discussed. As you note, you “see no reason to be informed on these bylaws since I “voted” for representatives to do this for me.” Combining the Virginians who feel this way towards learning about the different issues on the ballot this November with the Virginians who are simply ignorant to Amendment 1 all together, it seems to me that the results of this vote might be largely determined by those who do not care (rationally ignorant) and those who do not know (simply ignorant) about this issue. As Johnson reminds us, “there is even less incentive for the individual to obtain information about political issues or candidates than there is to vote.”
Similar to your proposed solution with your sorority’s representatives, perhaps we should let those for whom we vote make this decision.
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