Wicked political satire, or just wicked? A Web site, Vote-auction.com, isgenerating grins and chagrin with its brazen offer to buy and sell votesvia the Internet.
"Sell your vote online," the site urges. "Voteauction.com is devotedto combining the American principles of democracy and capitalism by bringingthe big money of campaigns directly to the voting public."
The site promises candidates "a greater return on your campaign investment"by buying votes outright rather than paying millions of dollars to consultantsand advertisers to influence voters.
To voters, Voteauction says, "profit from your election capital by sellingyour vote to the highest bidder."
The month-old Web site has been praised as pointed parody and condemnedas a detriment to democracy.
Created by James Baumgartner, a 26-year-old graduate student at RensselaerPolytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., the site has generated hundreds ofresponses from voters as well as a prompt cease-and-desist order from theNew York Board of Elections.
Amid warnings that buying and selling votes is a felony, Baumgartnersold the site to an Austrian businessman, who has said he plans to operatethe site through the November presidential election to judge its potentialfor profit.
The idea that the Internet could turn votes into a marketable commoditytroubles many. About a week after Vote-auction went online, California Secretaryof State Bill Jones threatened to prosecute "any individual who attemptsto buy or sell votes, whether through an Internet auction site or personalcommunication."
California election fraud investigators "will be monitoring Web sitesfor suspicious election activity," Jones said.
"There is no question in my mind that this could be used to influencethe outcome of elections," said Deborah Phillips, president of The VotingIntegrity Project, a voter rights organization. "It's cynical."
Others see only keen satire. "It's a joke," insisted Ari Schwartz, apolicy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a research organizationthat promotes improving democracy via information technology.
New York election officials were less certain. "It's hard to place inmy mind if it's over-the-line political satire, or if there is money beingtransacted," said Lee Daghlian, public information director for the NewYork Board of Elections.
Ultimately, state election officials warned Baumgartner that sellingand buying votes "is thoroughly illegal," Daghlian said. However, the statetook no action against Baumgartner after he posted "Not Valid in New York"on the site. "As far as we're concerned, since it says that, it doesn'tapply in New York, — it's out of our hands," Daghlian said.
Justice Department spokeswoman Chris Watney said at least two federallaws make it illegal to buy or sell votes or to aid and abet in the buyingor selling of votes. She declined to say whether any action would be takenagainst Voteauction.
It may be too late, according to Phillips. "Now that it's moved offshore,the question is whether even those authorities who could pursue it — theJustice Department and the FBI — would be able to do so."
