taken from boardgames@sopuli.xyz
Hm. Not that this is a bad idea, but I’m really surprised by this, as it’s kinda illegal.
They were very careful in how they worded the request. They are not asking for people to change their voting behavior, only to create a plan, and to make some public statements.
Obviously, the latter part is fine but the voting plan doesn’t require that someone actually change their behavior. They are definitely skirting the line, but I’m sure they had the help of a lawyer when they made this.
We’re trying to pay tens of thousands of swing-state non-voters… enough to actually swing the election.
I think their intentions here is what is most damning.
Disagree, people spend money with the intention of influencing the outcome of elections all the time, that’s all campaign ads and canvasses and phone banks and etc. are
And they’re not paying people to vote - they’re paying people to make a plan to vote (and make an apology and send a tweet, but I think those are irrelevant), which is something that campaign volunteers talk about with potential voters all the time
Except they were careful and never actually said “we will give you money to vote for Harris/against Trump”. Paying you to call him a human toilet isn’t against that law.
But the law also includes this language:
Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote… or to vote for…
I take that to mean to pay someone to vote, or to vote for someone. And in this case, CAH is definitely paying people to vote.
They’re paying people to apologize for not voting last time. What that means is up for the reader. Not the same.
Legally speaking they’re not paying people to vote, only to do voting-adjacent tasks which is legal
The Register went into the more detail on the legality of it all
Proof that it works!
