Vote Buying Law and Legal Definition
Any reward given to a person for voting in a particular way or for not voting can be called vote buying. Vote buying is a corrupt election practice. A vote buying bribe is that having a monetary value. The practice of vote buying is banned in United States. Vote buying is a threat to the conduct of fair elections. In the U.S. vote buying is an offence when a person knowingly or willfully gives false information or conspires with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false registration to vote or illegal voting, or pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $ 10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. This provision shall only by applicable to general, special, or primary elections (42 USCS § 1973i(c)).
There are state specific laws that ban vote buying.
The following is an example of a state statute (Kentucky) on vote buying:
KRS § 117.030 (2) provides that the State Board of Elections shall provide for the conspicuous placement of signs at all precinct polling places, which shall state that vote buying and selling are illegal and shall state the penalties for such acts.
