A new take on buying a vote

A college student in Minnesota tried to sell his vote for the presidential election on ebay. Authorities arrested him and charged him with bribery under a 1893 law.


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.

"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." via cnn.com

What's interesting is that no one tried to buy his vote. There weren't any bids for the posting that asked for a minimum of $10 for the vote.