What Do Votes Mean? - Prizes!
by Kirsten Bound
We all know political disengagement is a hard nut to crack. I mean what do you appeal to? People's intrinsic sense of civic duty? Their desire to take control of their own lives? All well and good, but we’ve been there and tried that. How about appealing to love for money and the quest for a celebrity lifestyle? In Arizona this year, the November ballot will for the first time be combined with a $1 million lottery to be won by one lucky voter, no matter who they vote for.
Democrat, Mark Osterloh, who is behind the initiative: the Arizona Voter Reward Act, is promoting it with the slogan, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Vote!” He collected 185,902 signatures of registered voters, far more than the 122,612 required to certify the incentive for the ballot this autumn.
Does this kind of lotto-ocracy degrade the voting process? Maybe. Is it legal to reward people financially for voting? (I’ll give you a clue – no.)
It is definitely a gimmick, but what's wrong with gimmicks if they find a way to spark an everyday interest in politics? Let us know what you think. I'll send the tenth person to comment a cheque for a fiver. (terms and conditions apply)
Chris Wicks
It also leads to the possibility of people only voting because of the incentive - in which case they won't put any thought into which way they vote. "Oh, I have to tick a box to get the money. I'll just tick the one at the top. Bush? Yeah, why not..."
Duncan O'Leary
Outrageous behaviour. Sounds a bit like forcing people to vote if you ask me - another solution that doesn't address the problem.
James Harkin wrote a good peice on incentives in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago - have a read here...