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Illinois bans sale of votes
And we thought this was a great Chicago tradition
A Chicago judge has ordered Voteauction.com to shut down in Illinois, pending further legal action. The site offers US citizens the opportunity to sell their votes to the highest bidder.
Although the site is run from Austria, Judge Michael Murphy of the Cook County Circuit granted a temporary restraining order instructing the site to stop operating.
Following this order, the site posted a notice saying it has "suspended registration for residents of Illinois" and promised to keep potential vote sellers informed about the state of the legal action.
Residents of New York State and California are also unable to register on the site.
A spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections is reported to have said that the site's "very existence" was a crime at federal, state and local levels. The possibility that it might be slightly tongue in cheek obviously made no impression on him. ®