Let us now turn to the issue of public deliberation. Notice first that the arguments for open ballots invoked above in the context of an “aggregation of private interests” view of voting, equally justify the publicity of debates taking place between representatives. This is because these individuals have interests in learning about each other. An implication of this fact is that, in a system in which vertical accountability matters, it is essential both for citizens to know what their representatives think and do, and for representatives to know more than once every four years how the electorate reacts to their arguments and decisions.