Vote Swapping Ruled Legal

[Matt Collins]

"During the 2000 election, some sites were set up for people across the nation to agree to swap votes, among them voteswap2000.com and votexchange2000.com. They were established mainly to benefit the third-party candidate Ralph Nader without throwing local elections to George Bush. The state of California threatened to prosecute these sites under criminal statues, and many of them shut down. On Monday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the vote-swap sites were legal. The court held that '...the websites' vote-swapping mechanisms as well as the communication and vote swaps they enabled were constitutionally protected' and California's spurious threats violated the First Amendment. The 9th Circuit also said the threats violated the US Constitution's Commerce Clause.'""

Article here:
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9755958-7.html

[Matt Collins]

Is anyone planning on doing this?

[robertwerden]

Could you tell me what this does in simple terms?

[Austin]

Yeah, I have never heard of this. A quick summary, perhaps?

[Matt Collins]

People in one state trade their vote with people in another state.

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote_swapping

"Vote pairing (or vote swapping as it has also been called) is the method where a voter in one district agrees to vote tactically for a less-preferred candidate or party who has a greater chance of winning in their district, in exchange for a voter from another district voting tactically for the candidate the first voter prefers, because that candidate has a greater possibility of winning in that district."

[Triton]

I have misgivings about this. If you cast a vote that is not really your vote, you are lying. Also, the muddier the waters are, the easier it will be for someone with malevolent intentions to manipulate the system.

[FreedomLover]

Stupid idea, no one will ever know whether the person they "swapped" votes with stayed true to their word.

[Wyurm]

I don't see how this would really help anything, at least not in the primaries, but correct me if I'm wrong.

[JenH88]

They said this tactic is legal? Well, while it is morally questionable- how bad is it if you really think about it. Technically you still have 1 vote in the presidency for the U.S. it's just strategically placed. You better believe the other candidates' supporters will take advantage of this.. this tactic is really based on the fact that concentrations of support is much more effective then support spread everywhere. However, would these contracts be binding? How would you ever really know if they cast the vote they had agreed to? ... sketchy voting tactics...

[Matt Collins]

I have misgivings about this. If you cast a vote that is not really your vote, you are lying. Also, the muddier the waters are, the easier it will be for someone with malevolent intentions to manipulate the system.
Well, it is your vote, you should be able to do with it what you want. The only problem then you get into the grey area of "selling' your votes and bribes etc. Next thing you know we are Brazil. :(

[rooteroa]

so let's all go on there and swap ron paul votes to other states and still vote for ron paul anyways :P

[Elwar]

If it'll help Ron Paul then I see no reason not to do it.

Perhaps swap Ron Paul votes with Obama votes?

[Jobarra]

That's funny. The act of voting for someone other than who you want is morally reprehensible. You would think these people wouldn't be trustworthy ;)

[Matt Collins]

There is no verification process though. We have (supposedly) secret ballots.