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 prom

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.