This is a novel approach to obtaining delegates for a national party convention:
Liberty Lion has learned that Carl Person, a candidate for the Libertarian Party's Presidential Nomination, has offered to pay the airfare of any delegate attending the Libertarian Party's National Convention in 2012 who has pledged in advance to support his candidacy for the Presidential Nomination.
Excuse me?
That offer would appear to be a felony if done in a primary or general election; 42 USC Sec 1973i, Sub C provides:
Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to his name, address or period of residence in the voting district for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to register or vote, 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: Provided, however, That this provision shall be applicable only to general, special, or primary elections held solely or in part for the purpose of selecting or electing any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the United States Senate, Member of the United States House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, Guam, or the Virgin Islands, or Resident Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
A party convention is not a primary, of course, so from my reading of the law it's legal to make such an offer for delegates to a party caucus or convention but not in a primary election.
A call to Carl Person's office was almost-immediately returned; he stated that he had previously fired the author of the piece over an unrelated matter, but he did confirm that he offered to pay airfare for some New York delegates who pledged to vote for him. He additionally added that had he the funding he'd be happy to extend the offer nationally. Mr. Person has checked with the FEC's offices and they confirmed to him that this practice is lawful.
A call placed to the national Libertarian party headquarters reached Wes Benedict who stated that the National Party had no comment on the matter and declined to discuss it further.
