A Lake County, Indiana man could be prosecuted for allegedly violating election law by offering cash for votes.
He’s alleged to have made a social media post reading: “Currently paying $100 for each no vote on the referendum.”
The referendum, regarding taxes for a school district, was approved by voters.
The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration heard from two women who filed complaints, including Mary Blum, who was supporting the referendum.
She said she had several exchanges with the man on social media.
“I warned him when that came out, giving him the code, telling him that’s not legal, what he was doing was not legal,” she told board members, “and he basically told me he didn’t care.”
She said he later changed the offer to Monopoly money.
Election Board Attorney Carly Brandenburg said she reached out to the man on Facebook.
“We had a conversation on Facebook Messenger,” she said, “at which point he said that there was a disclaimer on the Facebook site that he was using that essentially stated something along the lines of this is intended to be parody.”
She said he told her that she “didn’t get it,” that she wasn’t “bright enough to understand it.”
The board forwarded the allegations to the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office.
We’re not identifying the man. He has not been charged with a crime.