Cards Against Humanity to pay "blue leaning" nonvoters $100 to vote

[jlw]

Originally published at: Cards Against Humanity to pay "blue leaning" nonvoters $100 to vote - Boing Boing

…

[Scientist]

This is kinda great, but like Colbert’s superpac from 2011, this is also a really depressing, laughing through tears, illustration of how broken our democracy is.

They bought everyone’s voting records and are paying people to vote for a particular candidate, and it ain’t just legal, it’s also tax-exempt.

[anon59592690]

I look forward to your continued constructive criticism.

[jlw]

That user quickly identified as “not welcome here.”

[anon59592690]

In a way, they were helpful after all.

[Otherbrother]

@Scientist

They bought everyone’s voting records and are paying people to vote for a particular candidate, and it ain’t just legal, it’s also tax-exempt.

I can imagine that rewarding people for the act of voting is probably not entirely illegal, as plenty of businesses will give you a free coffee or whatever if you present your “I voted” sticker.
But is it really legal to explicitly pay people to vote for a particular candidate? How does that get around Federal law?

Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to his name, address or period of residence in the voting district for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to register or vote, or conspires with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false registration to vote or illegal voting, or pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both: Provided, however , That this provision shall be applicable only to general, special, or primary elections held solely or in part for the purpose of selecting or electing any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the United States Senate, Member of the United States House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, Guam, or the Virgin Islands, or Resident Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

(I got the impression that the Cards Against Humanity folks aren’t requiring anyone to prove that they voted for a specific candidate)

Edit to add: based on the FAQ section they’re apparently not paying people to vote. Just to post an apology and make a voting plan. So they could do that, not actually vote, and still get paid, I guess?

[gracchus]

@Otherbrother

But is it really legal to explicitly pay people to vote for a particular candidate? How does that get around Federal law?

It’s skirting the edges. They’re paying people to have a voting plan (legal) and also to publically disparage – but not vote against – one of the candidates (also legal). Put together, they might still be legal because technically one can still vote for a non-duopoly candidate. Where they might get in trouble is the “blue-leaning” phrase, but we’ll see.

As for me, I’m all for it. I also like the point they make about the dyfunctional system by only offering two bucks and change if you live in a non-swing state.

[Mister44]

It’s ironic that the Cards Against Humanity guy actually seems to care about humanity.

[Amstrad]

@jlw

The $100 includes posting to social media and apologizing for sitting the last one out.

Small note, they seem to be prepared to pay you a lesser amount if you decline to post to social media, though I don’t know the actual figure. In my case due to my voting history and location they were offering me $0.19, or $0.17 with no post.

[anon67050589]

Meanwhile, handing out bottles of water to people standing in line for hours to vote (with no indication of who is voting for whom) is illegal in some places.

[catsidhe]

If only there were some way of determining which voting regions mysteriously happen to have far too few polling places, making long wait times and unpaid leave and standing in the hot sun without water necessary.

If only there were some common factor there which would help us explain this situation.