OK lets say you bus in people who want to vote but have no transport. ----I think everyone agrees great idea, increase turnout, good for USA. But now lets say on said bus you have people wearing partisan shirts or buttons. ----probably still a good idea I don;t see any problem OK one step further, these buses have AC and these people possibly don;t have AC in their homes ----AC is not much of a big deal but... Now lets say since the lines are so long the people organizing this voters transport also organize some lunch or beverage ---- Up till now I am 100% behind the thing. But if I was an undergrad or worked at a crap job when I was 18-19 and didn;t give a crap about politics and some guy gave me food to come and get on a bus to vote. Im going. I remember Bill White gave us Chicken at UH when he first ran. Just seems sleazy. So is this going on?
If food/beverage was being provided to EVERYONE (I'm ignoring the A/C part, that's just strange), regardless of political affiliation, I don't really see the problem, as long as they're not being given anything by a political party or whatnot. I see the potential for influence being really low...no worries. Also, I'm sure whatever food the county/state/city/whatever is going to be totally ****ty, like bologna or something.
There's actually a pretty good economic/public choice theory argument in favor of allowing vote buying as a better outcome. I learned about it years ago though and can't remember the specifics.
I thought he was thinking about the RNC or DNC organizing bus trips and providing food, etc. -- as in a low-level bribe for votes.
