Ever since the online auction site eBay sprung up 10 years ago as a hub for selling just about everything imaginable, a handful of Americans has tried to sell votes, even though it is illegal.
“Over the years, every time there is a major election, we have had people attempt to put up a listing. We catch them very quickly,” eBay spokeswoman Catherine England said.
The “tradition” has continued this year, with at least a half dozen attempts so far to sell votes ahead of the US presidential election in November, offers that have all been removed from the system. At least one person has been charged with a crime.
Selling one’s vote is prohibited by federal law and also by most states.
So in order to penalize a 19-year-old student who, in May, posted his vote for sale on eBay for a US$10 bid, state authorities in Minnesota resorted to a law passed back in 1893, and actively enforced during the Prohibition Era years later, to punish people who tried to sell their votes for alcohol.
“When we see these listings we definitely take them down,” England said.
The eBay site records about 7 million new articles for sale each day and on average posts about 112 million items for sale at any given moment.
Given that volume of activity, patrolling for illegal posts presents a challenge.
“It’s possible that someone would put a listing up, it’s possible to be up for a couple of hours before we catch it. It’s possible that for a brief period of time something might actually be visible on the site,” she said.
“We are very clear, if you engage in illegal activity on our site, we absolutely will share information with law enforcement. We provide testimony in court,” she said.
The Minnesota man was charged with corruption and solicitation, criminal charges that could have cost him up to five years in jail and a US$10,000 fine. But he was sentenced at the end of July to just 50 hours of community service.
More recently, a Maryland resident posted his vote for a starting bid of US$3.99.
“To the highest bidder, your vote is my vote!” the offer read.
He also offered to film himself inside the voting booth so that the bidder would know he had voted as pledged.
“Maryland’s law specifically prohibits selling votes,” said Ross Goldstein, the state’s deputy elections administrator.
“And what this person was proposing was probably not so feasible, unrealistic,” he said. “The whole thing was a little ridiculous.”
The offer rose just one cent in the bidding before it was removed from eBay.
“I don’t think it will happen more and more as the elections are approaching,” said Goldstein, calling the Maryland attempt “just an isolated case.”
England agreed, saying that “It’s not anything that’s widespread or cause for concern in any way” and attributed the trend simply to people’s desire to express themselves.
“People are just looking for an audience. They are really using that listing as an opportunity to put their opinion on there,” she said.
“We have had instances that would be similar in nature, where we have sports fans who are really unhappy with the performance of their favorite team and they may try to list the coach for sale, as a way to express their unhappiness with the performance of their team,” she said.
“But obviously you can’t sell another person,” she said.
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