PSA: Don't sell your vote on eBay

Nineteen-year-old Max P. Sanders probably through it all in good fun when he decided to sell his 2008 Presidential election vote on eBay, asking for a minimum of 10 dollars in exchange for a ballot marked with the President of the buyer's choice.

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office in Minnesota isn't laughing. That office subpoenaed eBay for his personal information and served Sanders with papers charging him of felony bribery under a state law that makes offering a vote for sale illegal.

Sanders had already removed the auction, which got no bids and which he claimed was a joke, by the time the charge was made, but the prosecution isn't budging. If convicted, Sanders could be fined $10,000 and end up in prison for five years. The law was primarily used in the 1920s during the Prohibition era.

Minnesota prosecutor Pat Diamond says, "There are two things going on here in terms of why it's a crime. One is the notion that elections should be a contest of ideas and not of pocketbooks—at least not in the sense of straight-out 'I can buy your vote.' The second notion is that everybody gets one vote, and you don't get to buy another one." 

As for eBay, I can't find any specific prohibition against offering a vote for sale, though sellers cannot offer services which are explicitly against the law. Is selling your lote illegal in every state? Just curious...

LINK: Minn. tenn charged with offering his vote on eBay

Updated July 7 with clarification from Minnesota's Secretary of State, which is not the actual prosecutor in the case.