A few weeks ago in class, we posed the question: why do [rational] people vote? Because the expected return of one individual voting to elect one's desired candidate is so low, we concluded that there must be other motives which compel utility maximizing individuals to vote; expressive voting and fulfilling a sense of civic duty are such examples of this phenomenon.
In the midst of all else that was going on during this election cycle, I realized that there was another rational reason to vote, at least in my case. Walking up and down the corner and throughout grounds during the weeks leading up to November 5th, I was accosted on several occasions by random strangers asking me if I had registered to vote. The truth is, I hadn't registered to vote, and was planning to do same day registration (or considering not voting at all). Thus, every time this question was posed, a little bit of negative utility was eating away at me. I did not want to say "Nope" and be asked to fill out some survey or QR code contrivance, but at the same time, I would rather my conscience not be burdened by continuously lying to these campaigners - leaving no positive outcome for this situation. And so, an argument can be made that it would have been rational for me to have registered to vote some time ago, to avoid any hassle from these people. After doing so, I could simply reply "yep" and carry on with my day, not being pursued by the harassment group, and my guilt being assuaged by no longer lying to them.
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