3 ms·

On what grounds are you thinking there's anything illegal happening here?

martin_bech 10y ago
You are selling your vote. Where im from (denmark) thats highly illegal. Its also illegal to document what you voted for, to insure you cant sell your vote.
- bobwaycott 10y ago
  There is no vote-selling happening here. No money or anything of value is changing hands. People are promising, and expecting the other to make good on the promise, to exchange votes. This is an exercising of one's right to free speech and engage in the voting process, and was declared protected by the First Amendment in Porter v. Bowen. Edit: Porter v. Bowen was a federal Appeals Court ruling, so it isn't a SCOTUS-level, nationwide decision. But it certainly establishes precedent, and could potentially be used by those who wish to challenge any state laws that expressly prohibit vote-swapping as a restriction of their First Amendment rights.
jack9 10y ago
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/net_election/2000/11/is_voteswapping_legal.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/net_election... Technically, tampering. Yet-to-be-adjudicated in the same way as someone doing something illegal doesn't always get prosecuted because stare decisis (or political backlash) is so crazy-overused that you rather avoid going forward than lose on technnicalities or by a small margin.
- bobwaycott 10y ago
  Swapping your vote is not technically tampering. And the practice has been adjudicated. See Porter v. Bowen. Of course, since that was only an Appeals Court ruling and not SCOTUS, the legality is strictly dependent upon your state and whether it has laws on the books expressly prohibiting swapping. But, those laws could be challenged if one desired to put Porter v. Bowen to the test. PS: The article you linked dates from 2000. Porter v. Bowen was in 2007. You really ought to check the dates on things you read. A lot has changed in 16 years. Look at Citizens United.

You are selling your vote. Where im from (denmark) thats highly illegal. Its also illegal to document what you voted for, to insure you cant sell your vote.

bobwaycott 10y ago
There is no vote-selling happening here. No money or anything of value is changing hands. People are promising, and expecting the other to make good on the promise, to exchange votes. This is an exercising of one's right to free speech and engage in the voting process, and was declared protected by the First Amendment in Porter v. Bowen. Edit: Porter v. Bowen was a federal Appeals Court ruling, so it isn't a SCOTUS-level, nationwide decision. But it certainly establishes precedent, and could potentially be used by those who wish to challenge any state laws that expressly prohibit vote-swapping as a restriction of their First Amendment rights.

jack9 10y ago

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/net_election/2000/11/is_voteswapping_legal.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/net_election... Technically, tampering. Yet-to-be-adjudicated in the same way as someone doing something illegal doesn't always get prosecuted because stare decisis (or political backlash) is so crazy-overused that you rather avoid going forward than lose on technnicalities or by a small margin.

bobwaycott 10y ago
Swapping your vote is not technically tampering. And the practice has been adjudicated. See Porter v. Bowen. Of course, since that was only an Appeals Court ruling and not SCOTUS, the legality is strictly dependent upon your state and whether it has laws on the books expressly prohibiting swapping. But, those laws could be challenged if one desired to put Porter v. Bowen to the test. PS: The article you linked dates from 2000. Porter v. Bowen was in 2007. You really ought to check the dates on things you read. A lot has changed in 16 years. Look at Citizens United.