Alex is the 24 year old son of a person who babysits my own son. Two years ago I leaned on him to vote in the 2012 elections, pointing out that the Republicans opposed the Affordable Care Act, which would directly improve his access to health care, given his rather low income level. He said well his vote would make no difference.
I said it was this kind of attitude that, when multiplied by the thousands, was depriving people like him of many things they really need.
He then said that if he put himself on the voter's roll, he had a higher chance of being selected for jury duty, which he did not want to do. I did the best I could to check this out, and learned that in my state, New Jersey, jurors are chosen from several pools including the driving license database.
QUESTION: Is it true that there is any state in which registering to vote increases any chance of undesirable consequences ?
CONCERN: Clearly it is true that many people feel their vote makes no difference. And indeed, this is true at the individual level, but it is a lie at a group level, and people will benefit by being loyal to their group as well as themselves. There's clearly a need to emphasize to folks like Alex that conservatives who want to cut benefits tend to have much higher voter turnout, and that he is betraying his own interests by neglecting to vote.