A 19 year old college student from Minnesota decided to auction his vote for the upcoming election in November on eBay. At a starting bid of $10, he claimed that the winner would get to chose his vote. Abby Simons of the Minneapolis Star Tribune adds, "He'd even go so far as to photograph himself in the voting booth with his ballot."
Minnesota officials saw a problem with Max Sanders auction. He has been officially charged with "one count of bribery, treating and soliciting, a felony under an 1893 Minnesota law that makes it a crime to offer to buy or sell a vote." Sanders claims that it was a joke. Unfortunately for him, he may be facing up to 5 years in prison and $10,000.
Michael Arrington of TechCrunch thinks that the authorities response is "absurd." In fact, he is going to protest by auctioning his vote although I doubt that he would even entertain such a foolish idea. Nonetheless, there are those in the blogosphere that do not see anything inherently wrong with Sander's predicament. Some claim that votes are sold to the highest bidders in Washington.
Although, I agree that our political system and its culture may not be the most ethical at times, I digress from the notion that it some how becomes permissable for an individual to sell their vote because a politician does it anyways. Two wrongs do not make a right. Just because Washington may not be perfect does not mean that we should add fuel to the fire. The issue at hand is not whether "vote selling" is wrong or not . . . the answer is quite simple it is wrong, but whether Sanders should be prosecuted. There are those, like Arrington, that may think the penalty is a bit stiff and although I concur, I also understand that the punishment will be handled with discretion. No matter what the true intentions of this individual were, he attempted to sell his vote and would have provided proof. It is up to the Minnesota courts to decide what punishment if any this individual will be rendered. One thing is for sure, this should not be taken lightly . . . but delievering a harsh sentence will undermine the original purpose of the prosection of Sander's foolish actions.
