A01=James Johnson
A01=Susan Orr
Author_James Johnson
Author_Susan Orr
ballot
ballot selfie
bribery
Category=JPA
coercion
compulsory voting
current events
democracy
democratic theory
elections
electorial manipulation
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
modern politics
political behaviour
political philosophy
political theory
polls
representative democracy
secret ballot
turnout
Voting
voting rights
Product details
- ISBN 9781509538164
- Weight: 159g
- Dimensions: 119 x 183mm
- Publication Date: 25 Sep 2020
- Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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The secrecy of the ballot, a crucial basic element of representative democracy, is under threat. Attempts to make voting more convenient in the face of declining turnout – and the rise of the “ballot selfie” – are making it harder to guarantee secrecy.
Leading scholars James Johnson and Susan Orr go back to basics to analyze the fundamental issues surrounding the secret ballot, showing how secrecy works to protect voters from coercion and bribery. They argue, however, that this protection was always incomplete: faced with effective ballot secrecy, powerful actors turned to manipulating turnout – buying presence or absence at the polls – to obtain their electoral goals. The authors proceed to show how making both voting and voting in secret mandatory would foreclose both undue influence and turnout manipulation. This would enhance freedom for voters by liberating them from coercion or bribery in their choice of both whether and how to vote.
This thought-provoking and insightful text will be invaluable for students and scholars of democratic theory, elections and voting, and political behavior.
James Johnson is Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester.
Susan Orr is Associate Professor of Political Science at the College of Brockport, State University of New York.
Susan Orr is Associate Professor of Political Science at the College of Brockport, State University of New York.
