In a bid to boost voter turnout, Los Angeles election officials are considering some sort of lottery / cash prize system.
By participating in the
voting process, citizens would be automatically entered in a contest to win
money. Seems almost reasonable for a moment. But think about it. You would have
to continue this process for every election into the future. Because if the
incentive ever went away, a community would be right back to the same old
problem. Maybe worse, since you could see even more voter cynicism at the
thought of a prize or monetary incentive that "used to be there, so why bother
now?"
And if it is truly a good idea, why stop with voting? How about a
prize incentive to promote the civic responsibility of filing a tax return? Or
jury duty?
Voting is an important right and responsibility. It's made
much easier in my community through mail-in ballots. Choosing through voting is
not the same as filling out a lottery ticket at the convenience store. You're
already a winner every time you turn in a ballot.
