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votelottery

Reward people for voting.
 
(+5, -5)
  [vote for,
against]

To encourage people to vote, we should run it like a lottery. One voter would get picked at random and win a "jackpot" worth millions of dollars. The jackpot could go up with the number of people voting, so that people would have an incentive to get other people to vote. How would we finance this? Well, the jackpot would be paid by the winner's campaign fund or something.
weihwa, Sep 21 2000

Mark Osterloh, Arizona (2006) http://www.nytimes....ml?_r=1&oref=slogin
Proposal. Prize: $1 million. [jutta, Feb 09 2008]

Bulgaria (2005) http://news.bbc.co....pondent/4618845.stm
Prize: a car [jutta, Feb 09 2008]

"Franchise" https://en.wikipedi...chise_(short_story)
An Asimov classic [8th of 7, Feb 17 2016]

One man, one vote http://www.goodread...-government-and-had
Better. [8th of 7, Feb 17 2016]


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Annotation:







       Then I'd feel like even more of an idiot if I bothered to vote.   

       I don't want anyone to vote in elections for the sake of voting or because there's a negative or positive incentive (other than having one side win or lose). I want people to vote because they know what's going on and they give a care about it.
centauri, Sep 21 2000
  

       I was intrigued by the idea in a short SF story I read some years ago (I can't remember who by) where one member of the population was chosen at "election" time, and it was that persons responsibility to choose the next government. The government chosen was invariably referred to as the "Fred Jones" government, and if all went well for the country then Fred Jones was well thought of. But if it didn't...whoa betide Fred Jones.   

       If this ideas was adopted, and the chooser Had to make a choice (can't opt out) and Had to explain rationally why he/she had done so, just maybe more people would take an interest in which party is offering what, and what the consequences are.   

       I will now go and see if I can find the story.
Alcin, Sep 27 2000
  

       I'm guessing Alcin is referring to "Solar Lottery" by Philip K Dick. That story is a lot closer to many *other* ideas on this site that have to do with electing presidents, or parliaments, or both at random.
jutta, Feb 09 2008
  

       <link>   

       A number of small but significant prizes distributed within each constituency might be more effective.
8th of 7, Feb 17 2016
  

       I like this.   

       More interesting would be to offer one large cash prize for each of the major parties. This would have interesting effects on voting and would help to ensure a more even (and therefore more interesting) spread of votes.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 17 2016
  


 

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