Pizza, Pot And Politics
I’m all for a robust GOTV effort, but a push in Eagle Rock, Calif., took it to a new, um, high:
Fliers offering $40 worth of free medical-grade marijuana were reportedly passed out in Eagle Rock to try and draw residents to vote in the local election.
Was the free pot an incentive to get a larger turnout? Politics ranked “high” on resident’s list of priorities. Nearly 10 times as many voters – 792 residents – turned out to the polls during the recent Neighborhood Council elections than last year.
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The fliers asked citizens to support the Progress and Collaboration Slate, which ran against the neighborhood council’s opposition to pot dispensaries.
The council had tried to ban pot dispensaries but residents collected enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot, the Eagle Rock Patch reported.
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While some argue the pot offer drove voter turnout, it didn’t lead to victory. A candidate from the Eagle Rock Neighbors Slate was elected president. Only two of the eight Progress candidates won – for the positions of civic director and sub-district 1 director.
Of course, you can’t dismiss the early-vote munchies. Problem solved in Colorado, home of – wait for it – the Rocky Mountain high:
Early voting only got under way on Monday and already a complaint has been filed.
Colorado Republicans say Democrats wrongly offered Colorado State University students free pizza and T-shirts in exchange for voting.
Colorado state law says campaigners have to be 100 feet from a polling place, but there is some grey area, particularly when a polling place is inside a large public building like CSU’s Lory Student Center.
The Colorado Republican Committee sent a letter to the Larimer County clerk alleging wrongdoing by campaigners for the Democratic Party during the first day of early voting on the CSU campus.
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“They were essentially offering students and passers-by T-shirts and campaign T-shirts with the impression, very clearly, that you had to go vote first, and if you voted, then they would give you free T-shirts and free pizza,” Call said.
Students involved with the Obama campaign wouldn’t comment, but CBS4 received a statement from the Colorado Democratic Party.
“This is a hypocritical charge … the party that has spent over half a million dollars on a firm accused of voter fraud across the country should join us in encouraging people to vote instead of making frivolous complaints,” the statement said.
No word on whether the pizza bribes were for slices of double cheese or pepperoni supreme.
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