Voting twice

This is what Michael Walzer is proposing, as a way to improve the quality of each of our voting decisions: we should vote once and then, some time later, have a second go. It would allow us time to reconsider. 'Think', says Michael, 'of all the things we do better the second time'. I don't know what my second thoughts on this might turn out to be, but here are some of my first thoughts.

(a) I don't like the sound of it. (b) This is being proposed in the context of the run-up to the US presidential election. To many of us, and even from afar, that seems already to have been going on forever. How long does any one person need to think, re-think, think again and then think once or twice more? (c) Michael writes:

And it will make an even bigger differen[ce] if the second-time vote is mandated to come after a week without political noise: no stump speeches, no debates, no press conferences, no ads, no phone calls, no ringing doorbells, no gotcha! revelations. A week of quiet, and then a second chance.

I have no sympathy with this: if the noise is a problem, it is easy to shut it out; you just don't watch, listen, read or discuss. So, the extra week isn't needed. A week before the election those who find the noise a problem can switch off. (d) In one version of his proposal - admittedly, not the one Michael favours - only the second of the two votes would be counted. In that case, many people, including me, wouldn't bother to vote the first time. It can be argued that this might render the result of the first vote misleading. Precisely so. Another disadvantage, therefore. (e) If thinking again in life is important, which it is, then why confine this to the electoral period? Why not allow everyone a second vote after they've had some time to see how the person elected performs in office? All elected positions might be made revocable, subject to a further vote to be requisitioned via some suitably democratic mechanism. Well, there are considerations of stability of governance to be weighed against this idea. We can weigh them.

But, in any case, I think voters should be expected to use the weeks, months and years they have before each election to mull over what they want to do. We don't need to put them to the trouble, right after they make their choice, of having to choose again.