Free Gas Cards Are the GOP's New Campaign Gimmick--and It's Legal

[Celerity]

Voters in Georgia can’t have water within 150 feet of a polling place. But campaigns are allowed to hand out free gas—just as long as they don’t do this one thing.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/free-gas-cards-are-the-gops-new-campaign-gimmick-and-its-legal



Lucky drivers pulling up to a packed Chevron gas station south of Atlanta last Saturday finally saw a little relief at the pump, in the form of a $25 gas voucher straight from the goddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece. The catch: They had to sit through a pitch for her political candidate of choice—college football hero, Olympic bobsledder, Russian roulette aficionado, and now aspiring Republican senator Herschel Walker.

But the goddaughter—Trump-pardoned felon, QAnon booster, and reality TV tell-all author Angela Stanton-King—wasn’t out there on her own. And they weren’t her vouchers. She was the face of a promotion from a pro-Walker super PAC called “34N22,” which claimed to be giving away $4,000 worth of fuel in the name of unseating his opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), the pastor who currently leads the congregation at King Jr.’s old church.

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It was an unusual scene. A video Stanton-King streamed on her YouTube channel shows that some motorists seemed confused and tentative about participating, but soon came around when presented with the free fuel. But with summer gas prices spiking in a pivotal election year, these giveaways could soon become a nationwide trend—and a real-world troll.

The legal question

Giveaways like these aren’t common, precisely because of the outwardly visible impression of bribing people for votes. On Saturday, volunteers handed out vouchers along with electioneering pamphlets bashing Warnock and soliciting support for Walker. Casual observers and even some attorneys suspected the unusual arrangement was illegal. But experts say this kind of gas giveaway falls within election rules. Brett Kappel, campaign finance expert at Hammon Curran, told The Daily Beast that laws against vote buying require an agreement.

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[LeftInTX]

1. Ugh....

[Liberal In Texas]

2. Bribery. The GQP way.

I'm surprised the Supremes haven't made this legal yet.

[scarletlib]

3. Take it. Thank them. Fill up your tank.

Drive to the polls and vote BLUE ALL THE WAY.

You stupid enough to do this, I am smart enough to take it. Won’t change how I vote.