Publisher: Pragma Publishing
Online publication date: December 2023
Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.62483/21541629
Emanuela Ceva and Nenad Stojanović
ABSTRACT
In this chapter we aim to collect information and identify the ethically relevant dimensions of different types of elections, including a discussion of referendums and primaries. After briefly presenting our approach, we identify three sets of sources of ethical uncertainty that voters face and then apply them to real-world examples that illustrate how these uncertainties intersect various institutional models of democracy and forms of democratic election. In our conclusion we sum up the discussion and ask a crucial question for a normative ethics of democratic voting that can yield practical guidance for citizens’ action, that is, “what level of knowledge of and commitment to daily politics may be expected of citizens as electoral voters?” To address this question, we conclude by pointing out the importance of heuristic shortcuts, as well as the recent emergence and rapid expansion of Voting Advice Applications (VAAs).