each voter cast an informed or a thoughtful vote. Moreover, in the United States and in most countries around

the world, the freedom to vote has also typically meant the freedom notto vote.

Why do people not vote? Perhaps they do not care too much about who wins, or they are uninformed about who

is running, or they do not believe their vote will matter or change their lives in any way. These reasons are

probably tied together, since people who do not believe their vote matters will not bother to become informed

Access for free at openstax.org
18.1 • Voter Participation and Costs of Elections 437

or care who wins. Economists have suggested why a utility-maximizing person might rationally decide not to

vote or not to become informed about the election. While a single vote may decide a few elections in very small

towns, in most elections of any size, the Board of Elections measures the margin of victory in hundreds,
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