…you make the erroneous assumption that if they weren’t voting, they’d be working.

Er, no I don’t. Even time not spent working has a value, because, like money or anything else it’s a ‘scarce’ and thus price-able resource. Time = money and all that. Working out how much exactly it’s worth is tricky, though.

That said, the arguments by appeal to rational fulfilment of irrational desires (ie feeling good about voting, even though it’s pointless) are good ones, and I was a little surprised no-one made them! Might make it rational to vote, but doesn’t make democracy any more functional, though, if the only reason to vote is to satisfy some irrational part of one’s brain…