voting

From Alex Tabarrok, the most thought provoking thing I've read today:

Frankly, too many people vote already. I know, that's heresy against the great religion of democracy - i.e. worship of the mob - but other people voting is an externality on me and in this case I will side with Pigou.

For non-economists, this may help to explain the "Pigou" reference:

A Pigovian tax is a tax levied to correct the negative externalities of a market activity. For instance, a Pigovian tax may be levied on producers who pollute the environment to encourage them to reduce pollution, and to provide revenue which may be used to counteract the negative effects of the pollution. Certain types of Pigovian taxes are sometimes referred to as sin taxes, for example taxes on alcohol and cigarettes.

I tend to agree that other people voting dilutes the value of my vote, but I'm not quite ready to sign on for poll taxes. To be fair to Alex, I don't think he's advocating poll taxes either. In context, he's objecting to one of the more stupid get-out-the-vote proposals I've ever seen:

In an effort to improve voter turnout the Arizona Voter Reward Act (if approved) would give every voter a chance to win a prize of $1 million. Great. Why not hand out a bottle of vino with every vote or some crack? Where is Richard Titmuss when you need him? What sort of people won't vote if there is no lottery but will vote if they get a lottery ticket and why do we want these people to vote?