Assignment 4: The Calculus of Voting—Is Voting Rational?

The Calculus of Voting-Is Voting Rational?Voting seems simple, but political scientists see it as a puzzle.This assignment asks you to grapple with a puzzle that has occupied political scientists for decades: If a single vote almost never decides an election, why do millions of people vote?You will examine voting through the lens of rational choice theory, consider how the costs and benefits of voting are distributed unequally across American society, and analyze how political actors strategically manipulate these costs and benefits.This multi-part assignment introduces students to the paradox of voting through rational choice theory and then progressively builds toward analy sis of institutional design, distributive politics, and democratic legitimacy.It is designed for an introductory or intermediate American Government course, but can be adapted for courses on political be hav ior, campaigns and elections, or demo cratic theory.The assignment is structured as a scaffolded sequence: early parts activate prior knowledge and introduce the formal model, middle parts apply the model to real-world inequalities and competing explanations, and later parts require original research, strategic thinking, and normative evaluation.Each part can stand alone, but the full sequence is designed to build cumulatively.By completing this assignment, students will be able to:• Apply rational choice theory to political be hav ior and identify its limitations • Explain the collective action prob lem inherent in voting • Analyze how institutional rules and procedures affect the costs of political participation • Evaluate how voting costs and benefits vary across demographic groups • Assess the strategic incentives political actors face when designing election rules Ardoin Assignment 4 Is Voting Rational.indd 1 Ardoin Assignment 4 Is Voting Rational.indd 1 7/2/