On the Metaphysics of Voting

Discussions of the ethics of voting often proceed by making metaphysical assumptions. It is widely assumed that votes determine electoral outcomes by causing them, and that an individual vote plays no role in determining an election’s winner when the margin of victory is greater than one. However, both of these assumptions are false. Our votes determine who wins an election by metaphysically grounding that result, not causing it. Moreover, joint grounding does not involve individual contributions adding up to an effect, and overdetermination via grounding does not make each full ground any less responsible for what it brings about. These observations motivate a picture on which our individual votes can be metaphysically responsible for a candidate’s victory, no matter the final tally—and hence we can be morally responsible for casting those votes, even in a landslide.