A Lottery for People Who Are Bad At Voting

It's long been said that state lotteries are little more than a tax on people who are bad at math. To take that one step further, Arizona wants to create a lottery that could reward people who are bad a voting:

There's going to be a new reason for Arizonans to go to the polls this year: They could win $1 million.

The Secretary of State's Office certified Thursday that backers of the voter lottery plan had submitted more than enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

But the measure is worded in a way to actually encourage people to vote both in the primary this September as well as two months later when the actual initiative will be on the ballot. If it is approved in November, it will be retroactive: One lucky person who voted in this year's primary and another who cast a ballot in the general election each will get $1 million.

In fact, it's even set up so that there could be multiple winners. Mark Osterloh, who came up with the plan, said businesses are free to make donations of cash, or maybe even a new car, to encourage turnout.

Osterloh said he believes that providing a carrot for would-be voters would increase participation in the democratic process. The Tucson physician dismissed concerns that the kind of people who would vote solely for a chance to win the lottery are likely to be ill-informed about the candidates and the issues.

"Once they decide they're going to vote, they will study the issues and candidates," he said. "And they will vote in their own enlightened self-interest."

Sure they will. Just like the way they study the mathematical odds of winning the regular lottery as they spend their rent money on tickets. As the Instapundit says, won't this just encourage stupid people to vote? Do we really need to have important issues decided by stupid people?

This may marginally increase the voter turnout, but in turn decrease the average voter IQ because people will show up to vote just to have their names on the roll and without spending any time to learn what they're voting for or against.

Lotteries just aren't good public policy.