For what minimum sum of money would you exchange your vote?

[Meticulous Man]

Assume parliamentary elections, that you won't suffer any legal repercussions and that you only will get the money if you indeed vote for the candidate/party you agree to vote for.

[Kuciwalker]

$5. It's not like it would matter anyway.

[DanS]

In 1757, George Washington bought a quart and a half of rum, wine, and beer per capita to win his constituency.

In today's money, I guess that would mean an individual vote would cost a couple hundred bucks.

[MRT144]

4 dollars just to undercut kuciwalker

[Drake Tungsten]

tree fitty...

[Spiffor]

Much more than what you suggest.

[Jaguar]

If I didn't have to go to the voting booth and cast the vote myself: 1 dollar.

If I had to go cast the vote, probably more like 150 for the time spent.

[Blake]

The real question would be how much money it'd take to change your vote from the least of the evils to the greatest.

As a theoretical exercise, how would you design a vote buying market? The amount of money people would accept for their votes would vary, each party would have a subset of voters who they could buy for cheap. But then voters would hold out for more money.

They could have it set up so that votes could be traded right up until the election, but each person can only sell their vote once. As it gets closer to the election, the parties would be willing to pay more for votes, if they are close. But also, if someone holds out for too long they might end up not getting any money for their vote and being forced to vote for free, this would tend to lower the cost of votes as the election draws near, as people desperately try to get SOME money for their vote. And if one party should buy a majority then the value of all remaining votes would drop to zero.

The game theorist in me finds this really intriguing, as morally reprehensible as the idea it is.

[MRT144]

The real problem arises with anonymous voting. The only way you could actually pay people to vote and ensure some hope for a win is as such;a payback scheme where if elected you pay each person who promised to vote for you a sum of money. this prevents people from just saying they will vote for you and not doing so.

[Snotty]

probably not much, unless i had to vote for the tories

[Nubclear]

Since my vote for "Parliamentary" elections has no effect here in Utah, 100 Euro is fine.

[Skanky Burns]

Anything is better than what I am currently getting.

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
tree fitty...

[Spec]

FREE!

sPEC.

[Solver]

It really depends on who exactly I would be supposed to vote for, then. In parliamentary elections, 20-odd parties usually run here. About seven of them end up with actually have parliament seats.

Now, I mostly view parliament elections as choosing the lesser of many evils. With an offer of a couple hundred euros, I'd seriously consider it if I were asked to vote for a party that I know doesn't stand a chance of getting into the parliament or a party that isn't really much different from the one I was going to vote for (there's always similar parties). However, for no reasonable sum of money I'd vote for a party that can get parliament seats and whose politics I'm opposed to.