Guests packed into UW-Madison's Law School Monday night to attend the Don't Vote: Why Voting is Immoral"" forum hosted by the Center for Liberal Democracy.
Director of the Center, political science professor Donald Downs, opened the controversial discussion and explained the organization's goal of exploring differing political stances.
""We like to present views that are outside the mainstream,"" Beck said.
Guest speaker Wendy McElroy, author of ""Dissenting Electorate,"" explained why she abstains from voting and feels that others should do the same.
McElroy challenged the value of a single vote, arguing that an individual's chances of deciding an election are very slim. She also said the act of voting legitimizes the powerful position of U.S. political offices.
The most important argument against voting is the moral dilemma, according to McElroy.
""I believe you have a moral jurisdiction over your own body that no other human being has a moral right to breach,"" McElroy said.
""Yet when you vote for President, when you vote for a person to be put in a position of vast power, you are voting to put them not only in a position of power over your life but over the lives of others.""
UW-Madison philosophy professor Harry Brighouse rebutted McElroy's argument that voting is consenting to the political system, saying that by voting, citizens are actively engaging in the political process.
Brighouse said he did not dispute McElroy's contention that voting is ""calling on the government to use coercive force against other people."" However, he said, ""I don't agree that it's thereby immoral, and that's for the simple reason that I don't agree that wielding power . . . is always immoral.""
Brighouse and McElroy agreed voting is not the best way to affect political or social change.
""Whether you vote or not, if you want to make social change you don't do it just by voting,"" Brighouse said.
""You've got to try and influence these people, and you do that not by voting for them but by building campaigns, but by fighting for real social change out there in civil society,"" he said.
