Selling your vote on ebay
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  Selling your vote on ebay
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Pages: [1]
Poll
Question: Should it be legal?
#1
Yes (R)
 
#2
No (R)
 
#3
Yes (D)
 
#4
No (D)
 
#5
Yes (L)
 
#6
No (L)
 
#7
Yes (I/O)
 
#8
No (I/O)
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 19

Author Topic: Selling your vote on ebay  (Read 1496 times)
Queen Mum Inks.LWC
Inks.LWC
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« on: July 06, 2008, 10:29:42 PM »

No (R).  Here's where the poll comes from:

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/03/minneapolis-teen-charged-for-trying-to-sell-his-vote-on-ebay/

MINNEAPOLIS — A University of Minnesota student claimed it was all a joke when he put his vote in this fall’s presidential election up for sale on the Web auction site eBay. But prosecutors didn’t see the humor in the stunt.

Max P. Sanders, 19, was charged with a felony Thursday in Hennepin County District Court after allegedly asking for a minimum of $10 in exchange for voting for the bidder’s preferred candidate. “Good luck!” Sanders wrote under the eBay handle zepdrummer612. “You’re (sic) country depends on You!”

Sanders was charged with one count of bribery, treating and soliciting under an 1893 state law that makes it a crime to offer to buy or sell a vote.

According to a criminal complaint, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office learned about the offering on the Web site and told prosecutors. Investigators sent a subpoena to eBay and got information that led to Sanders.

“We take it very seriously. Fundamentally, we believe it is wrong to sell your vote,” said John Aiken, a spokesman for the office. “There are people that have died for this country for our right to vote, and to take something that lightly, to say, ‘I can be bought.’

“It’s a real shame,” he said. “I can imagine the conversations being held in American Legion Clubs and VFWs about whether this is a joke or not.”

The scarcely used law had its heyday in the 1920s, when many people sold their votes in exchange for liquor, Assistant County Attorney Pat Diamond said. Diamond said he believed his office responded appropriately in charging Sanders, a liberal arts major from Edina.

“There are two things going on here in terms of why it’s a crime,” he said. “One is the notion that elections should be a contest of ideas and not of pocketbooks — at least not in the sense of straight-out ‘I can buy your vote.’ The second notion is that everybody gets one vote and you don’t get to buy another one.”

Sanders and his attorney, Steven Levine, declined to comment Thursday. The charge carries up to five years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

As for the offer on eBay? It got no bids.
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MasterJedi
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« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2008, 10:46:01 PM »

Yes, but anybody who does it is an idiot unless they really need some cash.
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Albus Dumbledore
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« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2008, 10:54:01 PM »

Hypothetically how would this be enforced? Short of abolishing the secret ballot there's really no way that literal vote-buying is anything but a scam on the buyer.
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MaxQue
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« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2008, 11:08:43 PM »

You can't sell your rights. That is not right and against the law of one person, one vote. The person who buy the vote has two votes.

Also, you are not sure if the person will vote the way you have payed.
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Queen Mum Inks.LWC
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« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2008, 11:12:59 PM »

Hypothetically how would this be enforced? Short of abolishing the secret ballot there's really no way that literal vote-buying is anything but a scam on the buyer.

He said he'd take a picture, which isn't a guarantee, but it's better than nothing (if you're the buyer).
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Iosif is a COTHO
Mango
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« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2008, 01:19:54 AM »

Of course it shouldn't be legal. That's a no-brainer.
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MODU
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« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2008, 08:52:34 AM »



As we've discussed in the past, I am highly against the process.
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nclib
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« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2008, 07:09:08 PM »

No (D).
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Bacon King
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« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2008, 07:20:12 PM »

Sure, I'll sell someone my vote. Not that I'll follow through with it in the voting booth.

Grin
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Queen Mum Inks.LWC
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« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2008, 07:34:11 PM »

Sure, I'll sell someone my vote. Not that I'll follow through with it in the voting booth.

Grin

That's capitalism for ya!
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© tweed
Miamiu1027
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« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2008, 08:32:42 PM »

legal.  and the law enforcement going after this guy need to find something better to do, as usual.
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Queen Mum Inks.LWC
Inks.LWC
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« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2008, 09:33:41 PM »

legal.  and the law enforcement going after this guy need to find something better to do, as usual.

Somebody else found it and reported it, they didn't find it.
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Nym90
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« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2008, 10:39:14 PM »

Of course it shouldn't be legal. That's a no-brainer.

Yup.

the law enforcement going after this guy need to find something better to do.

Also agreed, since real vote buying is never done so openly, and is far more poisonous to the political process. Of course, it's also mostly legal.....
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Хahar 🤔
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« Reply #13 on: July 08, 2008, 10:28:39 PM »

Of course not (D), but this isn't "real" vote-buying.
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