that reflects the preferences of the electorate not accrue directly to any one voter; a voter faces only some of the benefits of voting and essentially all of the costs Voter turnouts are thus likely to be lower than is economically efficient In the 2000 presidential election, for example, just 50.7% of the voting-age population actually cast votes President Bush received 47.9% of the vote, which means he was elected with the support of just 24% of the electorate Mr Bush actually received fewer votes than his opponent, Albert Gore, Jr Mr Bush, however, won a majority in the Electoral College The Case in Point essay describes the 2000 election in more detail Voter turnout was higher in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections Legislative Choice and Special Interests One alternative to having the general public vote on issues is to elect representatives who will make choices on their behalf Public choice theory suggests that there are some difficulties with this option as well Suppose legislators seek to maximize the probability that they will be reelected That requires that a legislator appeal to a majority of voters in his or her district Suppose that each legislator can, at zero cost, learn the preferences of every voter in his or her district Further, suppose that every voter knows, at zero cost, precisely how every government program will affect him or her In this imaginary world of costless information and ambitious legislators, each representative would support programs designed to appeal to a majority of voters Organized groups would play no special role Each legislator would already know how every voter feels about every issue, Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 828