An Arizona political activist is betting that if residents had a chance to win $1 million just by voting, they’d be more likely to get out of the house and go to the polls. Mark Osterloh gathered 185,000 signatures and got his Arizona Voter Reward Act qualified for the November ballot.
We can only hope voters in Arizona won’t fall for such a gimmick, no matter how well-intended. We’re all for encouraging voters to go to the polls, which is what the initiative hopes to accomplish. But it shouldn’t take a lottery ticket to prod people to do their civic duty.
Under the Arizona plan, the winner would be chosen by a drawing from among voters who turn out for general elections every two years. The payout would come from unclaimed state lottery prize money, donations or the state treasury. Osterloh suggested that private donors, such as car dealers, also could add their own incentives.
Osterloh is a one-time candidate for Arizona governor who says his initiative would get more ordinary citizens interested in politics. We can imagine that they might turn out in larger numbers, given that the odds of winning are about 1 in 2 million – better than Powerball odds of roughly 1 in 146 million. But the additional voters seem more likely to cast their ballots without examining the issues, or reviewing the candidates, all the while anxiously awaiting the winner – not of the election but of the million-dollar lottery.
Current Colorado law wouldn’t allow such a measure (even in Blackhawk or Central City). State statute makes it illegal to “pay, loan, or contribute, or offer to pay, loan, or contribute, any money to induce an elector to vote or to refrain from voting.” (We don’t want to be too complacent – it’s always possible to change or repeal state law, notes Dana Williams, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Gigi Dennis).
There’s also a small matter of whether Arizona’s initiative might violate federal law. One federal statute calls for fines or imprisonment of up to a year for anyone who “makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote.”
The attorney who advised Osterloh said the federal prohibitions don’t apply because the possibility of winning the million-dollar reward is just that, a possibility and not an expectation of something of value.
We rather admire the innovative approach to a problem well worth solving, yet we’d rather voters participate because they understand the value of voting and take pride in the democratic process. If Arizona voters are going to roll the dice, let’s hope it’s against the million-dollar payout.
