Software, books and neat stuff for crime buffs
ADVERTISING


Crime, Justice, Safety: 8 Channels -- 26 Programs
NEWSCENTERCRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
SAFETY CENTERCRIMINAL JUSTICE PROFESSIONALS
CRIME SOLVERSRESOURCE CENTER
VIDEO CENTERMEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT
Breaking News    Missing    Internet Crime    Can You Believe This?    Major Cases    In Depth
Free E-mail Alert Live Police Scanners Forums
 Search    
My APB About APB Contact APB Newsletters Downloads

 APBNEWS.COM > NEWSCENTER > BREAKING NEWS > STORY
E-MAIL THIS STORY TO A FRIENDE-MAIL THE EDITORTALK ABOUT IT
Officials Move to Shut Vote-Selling Web Site
'It Strikes at the Heart of Our Democracy'

Oct. 17, 2000

By Richard Zitrin


Related Story:

Votes Offered for Sale on eBay

Related Link:

Voteauction.com

CHICAGO (APBnews.com) -- Chicago election officials are sensitive to the city's reputation for voter fraud, but they say that's ancient history and they want it to stay that way.

So the city is going to court to try to shut down a Web site that is acting as a broker for people willing to sell and buy votes in the Nov. 7 presidential election.

The Chicago Board of Elections filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to shut down the site, Voteauction.com, and its attorneys have a date in Cook County Circuit Court Wednesday to argue the case.

'Locked down'

Chicago election officials are not alone in their quest to stop Voteauction.com from putting democracy up for sale.

California Secretary of State Bill Jones said Monday that Domain Bank, the Pennsylvania-based company that registers Voteauction.com on the Internet, has promised to shut down Voteauction.com in 30 days. In the meantime, the company has "locked down" the site to prevent its domain name from being transferred, he said.

"Corrupting the vote is one of the most serious crimes in California and the United States because it strikes at the heart of our democracy," Jones said.

Officials in New York had also warned Voteauction.com's creator that it is against state and federal laws to offer to sell or buy votes, and the site has not been accepting votes for sale from residents there.

15,000 ballots listed

There have been other efforts this year to sell votes online on the eBay and Yahoo! auction sites, although both sites removed the bids shortly after they were posted.

At least one of the people who offered his vote for sale did so as a political protest, an eBay spokesman said in August.

Currently, more than 15,000 votes are listed for sale on Voteauction.com, with bids ranging from $3.57 per vote in Louisiana to $19.61 in California. Each state's votes are to be sold in blocks to the highest bidders, the site says.

'They'll be prosecuted'

Alfie Charles, a spokesman for the California Secretary of State's office, said that although there is some conjecture that the figures on the site are a hoax, officials are taking the notion of buying and selling votes seriously.

"The fact of the matter is the people running the site have committed a felony by offering to purchase votes," Charles told APBnews.com. "If anybody attempts to sell them, that's also a felony. When we can find out who those individuals are, they'll be prosecuted."

Buying or selling votes is punishable by up to three years in prison in California, he said.

The owners of the site, which has a slogan of "Bringing Capitalism and Democracy Closer Together," could not be reached for comment today

Created as thesis project

An Austrian holding company has owned Voteauction.com since buying it two months ago from its creator, an upstate New York college student who devised the site as an e-commerce project for his graduate thesis.

James Baumgartner, a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., had the site up for only one day in August before he took it offline after New York City elections officials called his thesis adviser, Albany attorney Paul Rapp, to discuss the illegality of Voteauction.com, Rapp said.

Baumgartner, who could not be reached for comment today, sold the site the following week to the Austrian holding company.

Political theater?

Some observers view Voteauction.com as political theater and say it raises questions about the limits of the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that equates campaign contributions with free speech, Rapp said. The court ruled against limiting total campaign spending, and some wonder whether the principle of allowing money to be used to buy elections extends to buying votes.

"I think some people might be serious about the validity of the site," Rapp said, "and at the same time I know there are some people that have been equally serious about the illegality of it, but it does at least put an age-old argument in a new perspective.

"It's a brilliant concept," Rapp said of the graduate student's thesis project. "When James first raised it, it sort of hit you like a hard punch. It was simple, but it did speak volumes in terms of a piece of rhetoric or political theater. I haven't been asked to grade [the thesis] yet, but given the reaction that's taken place, it certainly seems like he's done a fine job with it."

Painful history

Chicago elections officials are not as fond of Voteauction.com as Baumgartner's adviser seems to be. Buying and selling votes is not taken lightly in the Windy City, where people once voted by using the names of dead people and others voted more than once, Board of Elections spokesman Tom Leach said.

"When you read the Web site, it's almost like a parody or theater, but our concern is that some of our people registering on there are taking this seriously," Leach said. "It's something that Chicago is sensitive about. Anywhere you go in the country and you talk about Chicago elections, you're going to get the snickers like, you know, 'Vote early, vote often,' and the cemetery stuff.

"To be honest with you, you never see any complaints anymore [in Chicago] about fraud or buying votes or selling votes or people voting more than once," he said. "It's a nonexistent problem, but it's something we still live with."

Richard Zitrin is an APBnews.com national correspondent (richard.zitrin@apbnews.com).




E-MAIL THIS STORY TO A FRIENDE-MAIL THE EDITORTALK ABOUT IT

More from APBnews.com:

Grand Jury Indicts Texas Mother on Capital Murder Charges

Justice Department Presses Justices to Reject Terry Nichols' Appeal

Chandra Levy's Family Considers Suing Rep. Gary Condit

Families to Subpoena DNA in Boston Strangler Case

Federal Officials Investigate Replacement Tire for Safety Issues

Rep. Gary Condit Agrees to Fourth Police Interview

DNA Evidence Helps Change Police Methods in New Jersey







APBnews.com G-Files

Go to APB Breaking News

David Kaczynski Chosen to Head Anti-Death Penalty Group in New York

Woman Receives 3 Month Jail Sentence in Child Endangerment Case

New York Child Killed During MRI Exam

Ohio County Fair Opens Hours After Fatal Explosion

Investigation Launched to Determine If Hospital is Providing Health Care to Illegal Immigrants

Grand Jury Indicts Texas Mother on Capital Murder Charges

Amtrak Passenger Train Derails in Missouri; 5 Injured

D.C. Police Chief Defends Handling of Chandra Levy Case

Justice Department Presses Justices to Reject Terry Nichols' Appeal

Connecticut Mayor Arrested For Engaging in Sex With Minor

Florida Teen Feels Remorse for Teacher's Death

Chandra Levy's Family Considers Suing Rep. Gary Condit

Maryland Prison Gradually Returning to Normal as Inmates End Protest

Families to Subpoena DNA in Boston Strangler Case

Philadelphia Man Gets Prison Sentence for Feeding Cocaine to Baby

Nation's Teachers' Union Offers Homicide Insurance

Montana Teens Charged in MTV Show Copycat Crimes

Oregon Company Recalls 50,000 Winch Kits Because of Fire Risk

Federal Officials Investigate Replacement Tire for Safety Issues

Jailed Man Freed Following Priest's Confession

Twin Agrees to Plead Guilty in Fight on United Airlines Flight

Firestone Settles 40 Percent of Personal-Injury Lawsuits

Rep. Gary Condit Agrees to Fourth Police Interview

Tennessee Judge to Avoid Misconduct Trial

Two Escape From Minimum-Security Federal Prison

Girls, 13 and 10, Held After Foiled Bank Heist

Police Deal With New Twists in Chandra Levy Case

DNA Evidence Helps Change Police Methods in New Jersey


 Breaking News Archives




 | HOME | NEWS | SAFETY | CRIMESOLVERS | MEDIA | CJ PROS | RESOURCES | CJ SYSTEM | VIDEO | FORUMS |
To Inform And Serve  ©Copyright 2000 APB Multimedia Inc. All rights reserved. ABOUT APB