I'm sure that Rick Hasen, the slayer of Ben and Jerry's ice cream cone give
away to people sporting "I voted" stickers, will weigh in. If this was a
federal election, then the incentive is illegal. If it was a state or local
election without a federal race present, then the legality would depend on
state law. Perhaps someone has compiled all the various state and local laws
on giveaways.

Btw, there was an experiment published in the American Political Science
Review that did the opposite: it attempted to shame people for not voting by
threatening to send their voting history to their neighbors. Apparently,
this was very effective at increasing turnout. So, providing an ice cream
cone to someone if they vote: illegal. Threatening someone with public
shaming if they do not vote: legal. Go figure.

============
Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor, George Mason University 
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

                             Mailing address:
(o) 703-993-4191             George Mason University
(f) 703-993-1399             Dept. of Public and International Affairs
mmcdon@gmu.edu               4400 University Drive - 3F4
http://elections.gmu.edu     Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu
[mailto:election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Doug Hess
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 9:56 AM
To: election-law
Subject: [EL] giving incentives to turnout to vote

 
I saw an experiment recently where the researchers offered people a small
incentive to vote without offering it for a vote for any candidate/issue. It
wasn't clear from the experiment, as I recall it, if the results were due to
the incentive or the contact with the person informing them of it (a general
GOTV contact), but I am wondering if this kind of experiment runs into any
legal issues. The authors felt not (I believe they said they had asked some
lawyers to look into it but agreed that it might be a grey area in some
states).
 
Is there general argeement on this? Or does it vary by state? I think the
authors gave some examples of incentives at polling places as part of their
defense, but I don't recall what they were (beyond the "I voted" sticker).
I.e., do some (smaller) communities have coffee and donuts at the polling
place, etc.? 

Doug Hess 


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