Here's what Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) had to say about people's undertsandong of voting:
I am quite prepared to be told, with regard to the cases I have here proposed, as I have already been told with regard to others, "Oh, that is an extreme case, it would never really happen!" Now I have observed that the answer is always given instantly, with perfect confidence, and without examination of the details of the proposed case. It must therefore rest on some general principle: the mental process being probably something like this – 'I have formed a theory. This case contradicts my theory. Therefore this is an extreme case, and would never occur in practice.'