Selling Your Vote Is Illegal? Seriously? Why?

Score one for stupid ingenuity . . . or is it ingenious stupidity.

An enterprising 19-year-old named Max Sanders, a University of Minnesota student, recently offered to sell his vote in the upcoming presidential election on eBay. As proof, he had planned to take a picture of himself and his vote in the voting booth.

Minimum bid: $10. Total number of bids received: 0.

Duuuude, selling your vote is illegal. A scarcely-used 1893 Minnesota law makes buying and selling votes illegal. This law was most used in the 1920s when people sold their votes in exchange for (what else but) liquor. Although he claims the whole thing was a joke, Mr. Sanders was charged with one count of bribery, treating and soliciting. He faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

While the overwhelming consensus in the blogosphere is that Sanders was stupid for attempting this, I think he should receive an A in political science for exercising his First Amendment right. I have not studied this old 1893 Minnesota law in detail (I am not a lawyer by any means), but it appears to me that his arrest was premature. He had received no bids and had not actually casted a vote. Intent, I argue, is insufficient cause in this case. Can battered women ask for the arrest and incarceration of the person threatening them? The answer is no, unless the assailant is caught in the act. The best those women can do is to obtain restraining orders. Certainly, intent is sufficient cause in some situations such as terrorism, but Mr. Sanders plan was not going to kill anyone.

Also, do not give me the non-sense about sanctity of individual votes, and that selling your vote is a slap in the face of our American freedom, blah, blah. Yes, we should very much consider ourselves lucky that we live in a country where the democratic process, for the most part, works. There is, of course, the small and questionable matter of Electoral vs. Popular votes, but that’s not the purpose of this post. Certainly, we should not take our freedom and voting privileges for granted. Selling votes, however, is not a democracy crushing act, and it is not a sign that Mr. Sanders doesn’t care about our dying soldiers (and other unrelated material as many have suggested). Our democracy must be sufficiently strong to absorb such incidents. We are in serious trouble otherwise.

Further, the concept of money-for-votes is exercised daily by our government. Do you not believe that lobbyist influence members of Congress in much the same way as vote-selling? No? Are you sure? What planet do you live on? The entire premise of lobbying is based upon changing votes (oops, pardon the slip up, I meant education) of Congressional members. Sure, strict rules govern transactions between lobbyists and congress members. At the end, however, it’s all a facade. Congressional members may not get money directly, but they enjoy other hidden benefits from lobbyists. If you truly believe lobbying doesn’t influence policy decisions, you are a perfect candidate for a thorough mental examination (throw in a rectal exam for good measure). Note: I make no assertion about lobbying as an activity, and I’m certainly not debating the merits of it.

The proposed sentence for this student is too harsh. Spending government resources on his prosecution is ridiculous. A stern warning and a slap on the back of the hand would have been sufficient. Who knows, he could be a congressman some day.