When politicians claim scads of people earn a living by selling stuff on eBay, Max P. Sanders probably wasn’t the sort of person they had in mind.
Sanders, a 19-year-old University of Minnesota student, was charged with a felony Thursday, after placing an auction ad on eBay with the headline, “I’m selling my vote in the Presidential Election.”
“The rules are simple, the highest bidder will tell me who to cast my vote for in the election,” he wrote. “I will vote for any candidate of any party, as long as they are on the ballot.”
He also said that to prove he’d carried out the winning bidder’s wishes, “i will photograph myself inside the voting booth with my filled out ballot.”
“Good luck!” he wrote. “You’re country depends on You!”
He got no bids, and an investigator for the county attorney’s office said Sanders told him the whole thing “was a joke.” Minnesota Statutes Chapter 211B.13, Subdivision 2, however, calls it “Bribery, Treating, and Soliciting,” and it’s punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
“We’ll approach this with a good degree of common sense and hopefully we can find a punishment that’s fitting of the crime,” said Pat Diamond, a deputy Hennepin County attorney.
Sanders, of Minneapolis, said, “I actually am going to have no comment on that right now,” when a reporter phoned him and informed him of the felony charge. “I’ll give you a call back either today or sometime next week.”
