[LINK] The Volokh Conspiracy on Canadian expatriates and the right to vote

[rfmcdonald]

At American libertarian blog The Volokh Conspiracy, ILya Somin considers the arguments for and against expatriates having voting rights. On balance, he comes out for.

In defense of the Canadian law, one can argue that expats should not get to vote for a government many of whose laws they do not have to obey so long as they live abroad. In addition, Canada and many other countries do not tax expats who establish long-term residency abroad (though taxes are much harder to escape for many American expats). If you believe that voting rights should be limited to “stakeholders” who are subject to a government’s laws and required to pay for its support, many expats don’t qualify, or at least do not do so nearly as much as other citizens do. Furthermore, long-term expats may have weaker ties to their home countries. It is also possible they don’t follow politics there as closely, and might make worse choices at the ballot box as a result.

On the other hand, many expatriates plan to return to their countries of origin eventually. The fact that they continue to identify with the home country retain their citizenship suggests a measure of emotional attachment. Even while abroad, they may still be heavily affected by their home governments’ policies on many issues, most notably taxation and trade.

To these traditional arguments, I would add that expats from advanced democracies are often relatively highly educated professionals. While the two are not identical, virtually all studies show that there is a strong correlation between education and political knowledge. This may be particularly true of those expats who are interested enough politics back home to take the trouble to vote by absentee ballot. At the margin, letting expats vote probably helps diminish one of the most serious flaws of modern democracy: the problem of widespread political ignorance.

Even if expats have less of an immediate self-interested stake in government policy than those who stay at home, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will make worse decisions. Most of the time, there is relatively little correlation between narrow self-interest and political opinions. A person who truly cares only about his narrow self-interest probably would not choose to vote in the first place.