Silence and democratic institutional design

This article examines the challenges that citizen silence raises for the design and reform of electoral and representative institutions. Much of the recent work on democratic institutional design has sought to address citizen silence by making political systems more deliberative, inclusive, and participatory. But to the extent that silence is also a right in a democratic system, its presence is both inevitable and an opportunity for misrepresentation and abuse. I argue that these dangers are especially acute among already marginalized and vulnerable groups. I develop a set of design requirements that any institution would have to meet in order for silence to be safeguarded as a form of political expression. I then propose a series of mechanisms - including compulsory voting in elections, minimum turnout thresholds for underrepresented demographics, and iterative voting in legislatures - that could clarify when silence is being chosen with intent, while still respecting people's right to refuse vocal participation. Understanding silence as a basic element of democratic institutions, I conclude, can open up new possibilities for reform, providing a necessary supplement to ongoing efforts to strengthen democratic governance.