Most economists seem to agree that the costs of voting outweigh the benefits. I've been considering whether it might be worth trying to use the threat of voting to get people to do something costly (from their perspective) which serves my values. Here is how I would picture it working:

1. I commit to vote for a candidate (if my conditions are not met). Contrariwise I commit to
2. People who dislike that candidate will want me to abstain rather than casting my vote.
3. Require something which seems non-selfish so as to avoid sacred value dissonance.

So for example, I could say: "I will vote for Obama iff I don't get 10 commitments to switch to using Linux instead of Windows."

I could announce this on Facebook or something, then track responses in a Google Docs spreadsheet and vote accordingly.

Good idea?