[EL] Legality of Voting Incentives
David A. Holtzman
David at HoltzmanLaw.com
Fri Oct 5 13:02:15 PDT 2012
The Ohio opinion involved giving extra credit to individual students.
So I'm still curious, is the class we're talking about graded on a curve?
If so, wouldn't awarding extra credit to the whole class merely shift
the curve, prompting renormalization (shifting back) at grading time and
therefore no difference in grades?
That would render the whole thing a feel-good exercise, without
providing anything of monetary value unless maybe you call it free
psychotherapy.
(Money can't buy you love.) :-) dah
p.s. if money is speech, how can government ban using money (speech) to
persuade people to vote without violating the First Amendment?
If there's no effort to breach the secrecy of the cast ballot, and no
breach results, persuading people to vote should be OK.
On 10/5/2012 8:32 AM, Primo, David wrote:
>
> Thanks, everyone, for the replies.
>
> Working from John's e-mail and Election Law at Moritz,
> http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/ebook/part3/campaign_getout02.html,
> it seems that at least it is at least plausible that offering extra
> credit is an illegal inducement. I am not sure that the group nature
> of the exercise solves the problem from a legal perspective.
>
> I have found at least one instance---an Ohio Atty. Gen.
> opinion---where extra credit is explicitly treated as something of
> value and illegal to use as an inducement for voting. See here:
>
> http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/OhioAttorneyGeneral/files/0c/0ce60a7d-f979-4504-b712-c6542b6f65d7.pdf.
>
>
> So, I think the take-away is that this idea is ill-advised, at best,
> and very likely illegal.
>
> Dave
>
> David M. Primo
>
> Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professor
>
> Associate Professor of Political Science and Business Administration
>
> Director of Graduate Studies, Political Science
>
> University of Rochester
>
> Harkness Hall 318 (Political Science Dept.)
>
> Rochester, NY 14627-0146
>
> 585.273.4779
>
> Fax: 585.271.1616
>
> david.primo at rochester.edu
>
> http://www.rochester.edu/College/PSC/primo
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:*John Tanner [mailto:john.k.tanner at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, October 05, 2012 10:04 AM
> *To:* Steve Kolbert
> *Cc:* Primo, David; law-election at uci.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [EL] Legality of Voting Incentives
>
> The better federal statute is 42 USC 1973i(c), which prohibits giving
> anything of monetary value as in inducement to vote. The question is
> whether a higher grade in a course has monetary value. Personally, I
> think it would be an easy sell to jury.
>
> The general offer to the class gets you - and the students - into 18
> USC 371 territory,
>
> On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 12:12 PM, Steve Kolbert
> <steve.kolbert at gmail.com <mailto:steve.kolbert at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> With regard to 18 USC 597 (the relevant statute covering inducements
> in federal elections), the prohibition covers only "expenditures" as
> an inducement. I don't imagine that providing extra credit in a
> college class qualifies as an "expenditure."
>
> There may be other statutes, particularly in state law, that cover
> inducements more broadly. Perhaps someone on the list knows?
>
> Steve Kolbert
> (202) 422-2588 <tel:%28202%29%20422-2588>
> steve.kolbert at gmail.com <mailto:steve.kolbert at gmail.com>
> @Pronounce_the_T
>
> On Oct 4, 2012 12:01 PM, "Primo, David" <david.primo at rochester.edu
> <mailto:david.primo at rochester.edu>> wrote:
>
> A question for the list: I recall in 2008 Starbucks and other
> companies were smacked down when they attempted to give free
> products on Election Day to anybody who said that they voted, as
> they seemed to be running afoul of federal laws regarding
> incentives for voting in federal elections.
>
> But what about this real-world scenario that a colleague at
> another school relayed: A faculty member has a policy of awarding
> an entire class extra credit if more than half of the class
> votes. Is this an illegal inducement? Does it matter that the
> reward is not tied to individual behavior but rather to collective
> behavior, so that you can get the extra credit even if you choose
> to free ride?
>
> Dave
>
> David M. Primo
>
> Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professor
>
> Associate Professor of Political Science and Business Administration
>
> Director of Graduate Studies, Political Science
>
> University of Rochester
>
> Harkness Hall 318 (Political Science Dept.)
>
> Rochester, NY 14627-0146
>
> 585.273.4779 <tel:585.273.4779>
>
> Fax: 585.271.1616 <tel:585.271.1616>
>
> david.primo at rochester.edu <http://rochester.edu>
>
> http://www.rochester.edu/College/PSC/primo
>
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--
David A. Holtzman, M.P.H., J.D.
david at holtzmanlaw.com
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