The second type of political vote trading is explicit logrolling. In this case, each of two or more legislators agree to cast separate votes on separate issues. For example, legislator A agrees to vote for legislator B's pet project as long as legislator B agrees to vote for legislator A's favorite program. Each legislator is on record as supporting both issues.

How it Works

Each of these proposed pieces of legislation would have limited chances of passage by the state legislature on their own merits. Representative Adam actually enjoys jogging and does not necessarily favor a tax on running shoes. Representative Ben thinks solar energy is a hoax perpetrated on the public by the swimsuit industry and wants all bicycles banned, whether solar powered or not.

The two representatives could explicitly trade votes, each agreeing to vote for legislation containing the other's project. This however might be too explicit for their constituencies. An alternative is to combined both projects into a single piece of legislation. They might even include other pet projects favored by other legislators. If so, then both Representatives Adam and Ben get their particular project passed only if the entire legislation is passed. Voting for one is voting for all.

With explicit logrolling, each voter must go "on record" as voting for each program. However, with implicit logrolling, each voter is "on record" only for the entire package. Each voter can contend that a vote was cast only for "their" favored program. Implicit logrolling is commonly used by legislators to trade votes without appearing to trade votes. Legislators can come out in support of "their" programs, while simultaneously being against "other" programs, even though they actually voted for the "other" programs by voting for "their" programs, but they didn't really want to vote for the "other" programs and only voted for the "other" programs to ensure passage of "their" programs.

An Explicit Alternative