Don't vote, stupid!

Jason Brennan is an assistant professor of philosophy at Brown University. He has a theory about the ethics and morality of voting which is breathtaking in its political incorrectness. He says if you don't know who and what you're voting for, you shouldn't "pollute" the polls by voting

Here's the abstract of his article, whose final and definitive form was published in Vol. 88 of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

"Just because one has the right to vote does not mean just any vote is right. Citizens should not vote badly. This duty to avoid voting badly is grounded in a general duty not to engage in collectively harmful activities when the personal cost of restraint is low. Good governance is a public good. Bad governance is a public bad. We should not be contributing to public bads when the benefit to ourselves is low. Many democratic theorists agree that we shouldn't vote badly, but that's because they think we should vote well. This demands too much of citizens."

The Journal is not accessible online. However, you can find the "preprint" version by clicking here, then going to the second link under "Peer-Reviewed Articles".

Prof. Brennan first published his ideas in 2008, prior to the US presidential election, but the Journal version appeared in June 2009 ... too late. Walt hopes the article will be widely circulated in time to diminish the influence of the ignorant in future elections. But...

By definition, the uninformed people who "vote badly" will not read the article. Prof. Brown said in an interview today that he explained the concept to the most ignorant person he could find who admitted to having voted in the recent election. Sure enough, that person agreed that stupid people shouldn't vote.

What is to be done? Should those of us who know what's going on attempt to educate those who don't? Or should we just shoot them?