How Foot Voting Outperforms Ballot Box Voting

This chapter explains the advantages of foot voting over ballot box voting as a mechanism of political choice. The big ones are the ability to make a decision that makes a difference, and stronger incentives to become well-informed. These translate into important advantages from the standpoint of several leading theories of political freedom, including consent, negative freedom, positive freedom, and non-domination. The relative merits of foot voting are not affected by the availability of political participation beyond voting, such as activism or lobbying. They are also not negated by claims that foot-voting decisions are selfish in nature, or not truly “political.” The gap is similarly unlikely to be closed by efforts to promote greater democratic deliberation.