Could This New Democratic Tool Make Californians Vote Smarter?
The Digital Deliberative Poll May Encourage the Public to Learn More About Their Ballots
Californians vote on many ballot measures, but we almost never participate in significant public debates and discussions about the measures’ contents and impacts.
This isn’t simply a result of apathy or poor civic education. Rather, it’s an example of “rational ignorance,” a term coined by the late Stanford-educated economist Anthony Downs in his 1957 book, An Economic Theory of Democracy. The term defines this democratic reality: since you have just one vote out of millions, your individual vote doesn’t really matter. So, it’s rational to remain ignorant about the details of …
