The Overblown Drama In Athens

There’s been an awful lot of hot air blowing around the conservative blogs about something going on down in Athens. Basically, it seems someone had the idea to offer college students $5 to bring a friend with them to vote.

Was it the greatest plan in the world? Probably not. Is it a crime? Not really.

The blogs pushing this story are all citing the following section of the Ohio Revised Code to claim this is illegal:

“No person shall before, during, or after any primary, convention, or election:

…

Advance, pay, or cause to be paid or procure or offer to procure money or other valuable thing to or for the use of another, with the intent that it or part thereof shall be used to induce such person to vote or to refrain from voting.”

The problem? They’ve all danced around the fact that in this case the money doesn’t go to the voters. It goes to people who get others to vote. This is basically the same as paying someone to register voters or collect signatures on a petition (both legal in Ohio).

They’ve blatantly ignored this distinction to libelously claim that the Ohio University Democratic Club has committed a crime. In fact, it seems that they didn’t even get the basic facts correct. They placed the blame solely on the college Democrats, when it seems controversial Athens County Democratic Chairwoman Susan Gwinn was the person behind the program, likely without even having the support of the rest of the county party's officers.

But hey, it’s not an election without a bunch of blowhard Republicans falsely screaming voter fraud. Right?