I strongly dislike doing routine tasks, especially when they can be automated. This is why I do things like set up direct deposit, set aside money from each paycheck into my 401k, auto-pay my bills, and sign up to get the latest posts get my favorite blogs emailed to me. In each case I am setting up a contract where certain actions are taken on my behalf for my convenience, and the only way to override it is to either change my preferences, or manually perform the action.
Voting would seem like a great candidate to be automated in this fashion. I would love the ability to set up a 'contract' for voting that stipulated which candidates should recieve my vote on election day if I fail to show up at the polls. The rules for determining which candidates would get my vote in such a contract could be based on party, incumbency status, demographic aspects such as age or gender of the candidate, or some other attributes that were easy to determine and unambiguous to implement. Since the states largely control the voting process, it would have to be implemented on a state-by-state basis, although it is possible to do this federally with enough political support.
While these sort of default voting preferences wouldn't be right for everyone, I think they would be right for the majority of Americans at this point in time. Over three-quarters of voters for instance are 'certain partisans'[1], and will vote either Democratic of Republican no matter what. For these people, setting up a 'subscription' to a political party and automatically having their votes cast for them would eliminate the chore of going to the polls on election day for an all but certain outcome. Perhaps this could also help increase voter 'participation' - which hit a 72 year low this Fall - by allowing this type of passive 'set-it-and-forget-it' type of voting. This automated voting would also decrease the need for parties and candidates to spend money turning people out to the polls, and thus decrease the need to raise money in the first place.
There are, however, some potential issues with this idea. First, it would have to be legal both at a federal and state level. Second, new laws or new judicial rulings on existing laws that make this illegal couldn't occur in the future. Third, would have to be a strong verification mechanism to ensure that all of these default voting preferences are properly set up. Fourth, there would have to be a paper trail to ensure that all the ballots cast using these voting preferences were properly executed on election day. Fifth, there would have to be constant reminders to each voter about what their voting preferences are, what candidates they will automatically be voting for if they do nothing, and an easy way for them to change their preferences before an election. Finally, there is a danger that this type of automated voting could calcify our political system by relying on rules people set up years ago, and not forcing them to vote with a blank slate each election.
Despite all of these concerns, I think we should give this a try, at least in one state to start. I remain very concerned about the disconnect between what people in this country want, and what our elected representatives are doing. In my mind, anything that can make more of our voices heard, and decrease the importance of money in politics is a step in the right direction, and should be seriously considered.
1. A 2012 Pew Research Poll found 39% vote Democrat, 37% vote Republican, and 23% are actual swing voters ↩