The Expressive Duty to Vote
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19213402 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cecile Fabre (0000-0002-6954-9224, University of Oxford, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-13 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003055426101725 |
| OpenAlex | W7163810454 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 46 |
Standard arguments for the moral duty to vote in nationwide elections or referendums appeal to citizens’ general duty of reciprocity not to free ride on the provision of the public goods of democratic governance and its benefits, to a nonreciprocal duty to maintain and strengthen democratic institutions, or to a general duty to bring about just outcomes. In this article, I argue that citizens are under an expressive duty to vote, as grounded in a more general duty to manifest support for just and democratic laws, and for democratic institutions as the instantiation of the requirement to treat one another with equal concern and respect. Even if (in circumstances I elucidate) citizens are morally permitted not to vote for either of the options on offer, it does not follow that they are morally permitted to abstain: sometimes, participating in the poll and voiding one’s ballot is, on expressive grounds, the right thing to do
Appeal · Ballot · Democracy · Democratic governance · Duty · Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Political Philosophy and Ethics · War, Ethics, and Justification
Democracy and Decision
The Harm in Hate Speech
How you can help, without making a difference
Expressive Theories of Law
How To Do Things With Words
The Constitution of Equality
The Place of Voting in the Ethics of Counterspeech
The Logic of Collective Action
Is Epistocracy Irrational
The Expressive Case against Plurality Rule
Debate
Why Compulsory Voting Can Enhance Democracy
The Voting Decision
An Institutional Duty to Vote
Counterspeech and Ordinary Citizens
Why You Should Vote to Change the Outcome
Political Equality and Epistemic Constraints on Voting
The Paradox of Voting and the Ethics of Political Representation
Rule Over None I
Democratic Equality and Political Authority
Rule Over None II
An Epistemic Justification for the Obligation to Vote
The Distinctive Value of Elections and the Case for Compulsory Voting
Terror, Hate and the Demands of Counter-Speech
Compulsory Voting
Unveiling the Vote
Compulsory Voting
What are group speech acts
Collective harm and the inefficacy problem
A Theory of the Calculus of Voting
Unequal Participation
The classification of cooperative illocutionary acts
Speech Acts
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |