Foot voting is expressing one's preferences through one's actions, by voluntarily participating in or withdrawing from an activity, group, or process; especially, physical migration to leave a situation one does not like, or to move to a situation one regards as more beneficial. People who engage in foot voting are said to "vote with their feet".[1]
Legal scholarIlya Somin has described foot voting as "a tool for enhancing political freedom: the ability of the people to choose the political regime under which they wish to live".[2] Communist leaderVladimir Lenin commented, "They voted with their feet," regarding Russian soldiers deserting the army of theTsar.[3] The concept has also been associated withCharles Tiebout, who pioneered the concept (although he did not use theterm "foot voting") in a 1956 paper,[4][5]: 203 and withRonald Reagan, who advocated migration between states of the United States as a solution to unsatisfactory local conditions.[6][7]
Legal scholarIlya Somin has argued that foot voting requires far less information (on the part of the citizens engaging in it) to be exercised effectively than does literal voting at the ballot box; that foot voters are more strongly motivated to acquire relevant information than are ballot-box voters; and that decentralized federalism promotes the welfare of citizens because it facilitates foot voting.[2][5] Somin has also used foot voting to make a case for changes ininternational law to allow easiermigration across internationalborders.[2] Legal scholars Roderick M. Hills, Jr., and Shitong Qiao have used China as a case study to argue that foot voting is ineffective unless meaningful ballot-box voting is also in place.[8] Somin has rebutted this critique.[9]
Models from theoretical biology have been applied to elucidate the causal relationships between foot voting and the dissemination of human cultural characteristics.[10]
The popular fantasy authorTerry Pratchett shared a critical view of foot voting in his 1998 bookCarpe Jugulum:
"I understand you've traveled, Agnes," said Vlad, as she struggled. "So you'll know that so many people lead little lives, always under the whip of some king or ruler or master who won't hesitate to sacrifice them in battle or turn them out when they can't work anymore."
But they can run away, Perdita prompted. "But they can run away!"
"Really? On foot? With a family? And no money? Mostly they never even try. Most people put up with most things, Agnes."
One of the clearest examples of foot voting is theFree State Project. The Free State Project (FSP) is an Americanpolitical migration movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire, was selected in 2003) in order to make the state a stronghold for libertarian ideas.[11] By concentrating on a single state rather than being dispersed over several states, libertarians have seen a lot of electoral wins in New Hampshire. For example, 150 representatives in the NH state house were ranked as an A− or above by theNew Hampshire Liberty Alliance in 2021.[12] As of March of 2022, approximately 6,232 participants have moved to New Hampshire for the Free State Project.[13]