Res Publica 24 (1):93-108 (2018)
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Opponents of compulsory voting often allege that it violates a ‘right not to vote’. This paper seeks to clarify and defend such a right against its critics. First, I propose that this right must be understood as a Hohfeldian claim against being compelled to vote, rather than as a mere privilege to abstain. So construed, the right not to vote is compatible with a duty to vote, so arguments for a duty to vote do not refute the existence of such a right. The right against compulsion is most easily defended within a liberal framework, hence its critics often appeal instead to a republican conception of freedom. In the latter part of the paper, I argue that even these republican arguments are inconclusive. Even non-dominating interference still conditions freedom, which may require justification. Further, citizens can live up to republican ideals, so long as they are vigilant; they need not actually vote. Thus, republican arguments fail to refute a right not to vote.
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DOI | 10.1007/s11158-017-9391-0 |
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Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government.Philip Pettit (ed.) - 1997 - Oxford University Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Democratic Norms, Empirical Realities and Approaches to Improving Voter Turnout.Sarah Birch - 2018 - Res Publica 24 (1):9-30.
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