Why Do We Trust Strangers With Our Votes?

Imagine you are playing a game of Telephone with the whole world. Everyone whispers their choice, and we hope the winner is chosen correctly. Electoral trust is believing that the whisper didn't get lost or changed by mistake.

If you think everyone else is cheating or that the people counting your vote are lying to you, you might stop playing. But if you trust the game, you keep participating even when you lose. This trust comes from knowing that others mostly follow the rules too.

Trust is not about perfection; it is about predictability.