Would You Sell Your Vote?

A survey of NYU undergraduate students shows that 20% would trade their right to vote in the next Presidential election for an iPod Touch. "66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million."

Ironically, these students are aware of the value of a vote. "70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference - including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition."

At first, these numbers surprised me, but further thought on the matter puts it into a more understandable light. Over one third of voters relinquished their right to vote in the most recent Presidential election. If you were going to relinquish that right for nothing, why not pick up an iPod Touch for the lack of effort?

Student explanations of the results varied. One pointed out that none of the likely candidates closely reflected his views, anyhow. The obverse of that point was made by a young woman who observed that New York would remain a blue state without her vote. None of these students pointed to the Supreme Court's overriding the election process in 2000 as ground for their electoral nihilism, but they were mostly under 15 at the time.

Personally, I'd enjoy an iPod a lot more than I enjoyed the results of the last two presidential elections . . .