"Internet troll" found guilty for Craigslist ad
#1
http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ss...cart_river

Excerpt: "On the surface, the Craigslist ad sounded unbelievable: a Bend man said he would hang outside the local elections office buying blank Oregon ballots for $20 a pop that he would then fill out himself.

Local and state officials took the ad seriously, and they persuaded a Deschutes County judge to convict Aaron Hirschman of violating the state law prohibiting the purchase of ballots.

Hirschman, tried in an unpublicized case last month, is the first person in the state convicted of this particular form of voter fraud since the state adopted mail voting.

Circuit Judge A. Michael Adler rejected Hirschman's arguments that he was only trying to cause a stir with his ad. After convicting him of a misdemeanor in a non-jury trial, Adler fined Hirschman $200 and sentenced him to 40 hours of community service.

Oregon officials say their determination to prosecute Hirschman shows that they don't take it lightly when someone threatens to commit voter fraud.

"Some folks might argue that this was a minor case and not worth prosecuting," Secretary of State Kate Brown told a legislative committee last week. "I have to tell you, I wholeheartedly disagree. Every voting fraud case is worth prosecuting because it sends a really strong message to potential wrongdoers as well as to the public."

Hirschman could have been charged with a felony carrying prison time.

Instead, then-Attorney General John Kroger approved prosecuting Hirschman on misdemeanor charges for posting a Craigslist ad the Friday before the Nov. 2, 2010 election that was headlined: "Want to make an easy $20 for voting?"

The ad, riddled with grammar and punctuation errors, went on to say that interested voters could meet him outside the county elections office in Bend near a ballot drop-off booth usually manned by a volunteer.

"All you need to do is bring your UNFILLED clean voting ballot and let us fill it out then you sign, then we hand it to the volunteer in the voting booth," the ad said. "Its that simple! Then you get $20. We'll be there all weekend through tuesday."

Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship said a caller warned her office about the ad shortly after it was posted that Friday evening. They notified the secretary of state's office and were able to get the ad removed from Craigslist quickly.

Police officers regularly checked the parking lot over the weekend -- as did Blankenship -- and there was no sign of trafficking in blank ballots.

"It's a little mind-blowing that someone would talk about going to that extent," said Blankenship, adding that she had never seen any suggested ballot-buying schemes like this before.

The attorney general's office investigated and found out that Hirschman had posted the ad, according to spokesman Jeff Manning.

"Mr. Hirschman gave a full confession," Manning wrote in an email. "He stated in his interview and at trial that he is an Internet 'troll' and that he posted the ad to 'agitate' and cause a stir."

Neither Hirschman nor his attorney, Daniel Yeager, could be reached for comment.

Manning said that Hirschman argued that the statute barring offers to buy ballots was unconstitutional because it violated his First Amendment rights.

However, legal experts say it is clear that offering to commit a crime is not protected speech.

"There's no question the law can prohibit that kind of activity," said David Fidanque, executive director of the Oregon branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"It's equivalent to joking about a bomb in an airport when you're going through the facility," he added. "There are some things you don't joke about."
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#2
No mention of how he planned to vote?
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#3
I think he should appeal. It sounds like he had no intention to do this at all.
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#4
(02-10-2013, 12:31 PM)chuck white Wrote: I think he should appeal. It sounds like he had no intention to do this at all.

I think he should find a hobby. He wastes precious resources. I feel he should get a chance to pick up trash along the highway.
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#5
I heard my mother, talking on the phone to one of her old "Poll Watcher" friends. When voting by mail started. Saying, "Now, we'll get what we want". Apparently, the first thing they wanted was an expensive new high school. I don't trust our vote by mail, for one second.
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