Attorney General's News Release

October 31, 2000

Nixon sues Web site illegally buying and selling votes from Missourians

Jefferson City, Mo. — Attorney General Jay Nixon today filed a lawsuit against several individuals and a business connected with a Web site that purports to buy and sell election votes. Nixon said the defendants connected to the Web site, vote-auction.com, are violating Missouri law by not telling consumers that the buying and selling of election votes is illegal under state law.

Vote-auction.com, which currently is based in Austria, represents that it will auction off votes to the highest bidder, with money then going to the voters selling their ballots.

"Missouri law is quite clear on the issue of absentee ballots that only the voter who originally receives the absentee ballot can fill it out," Nixon said. "The vote-auction.com Web site tries to convince consumers that this is a First Amendment issue, but there is no getting around the simple fact that this is an illegal vote-buying and vote-selling scheme, and the people behind this site are breaking the law by representing that it is legal."

Nixon filed the lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court against Viennese residents Hans Bernhard and Luzius Bernhard; against the Austrian business Vienna Backbone Service, the Internet service provider for vote-auction.com; and against the Swiss business Core Internet Council of Registrars, which registered the domain name "voter-auction.com."

Nixon is asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctions against the defendants to keep them from making misrepresentations to Missourians. The Attorney General also is asking the court to assess civil penalties of up to $1,000 for each violation of Missouri law.

Earlier this month, an Illinois judge issued an injunction to keep voteauction.com from operating in that state; the operators of the Web site then changed the domain name of the business to vote-auction.com in an effort to circumvent that ruling. Nixon's lawsuit asks that any injunction handed down by the court cover not only the named defendants, but also any parent corporations, subsidiaries or anyone acting in concert with them or on their behalf to keep them from violating the law.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818