The town of Barili Cebu Philippines just elected my brother in law
as vice mayor of his town.

There, there is no hiding of vote buying. My bro-in-law was the underdog
because he had less money than his opponent who sold a bunch of land
to fund her votes.

Hey! Where is Blogger Beer?

It depends on the race, but I think $5 is more than I could ask for in most elections. There are basically two things to factor in: (1) percieved difference between the candidates and (2) liklyhood that your vote will matter.

So in a presidential election, the difference between Bush and Kerry (for example) is EXTREMELY small. They were basically the same idiot, they just disagreed on which parts of my life they wanted to control. The likelyhood of my vote mattering is also very very small. Although I live in a swing state, the odds of any election being decided by my one vote are next to nothing. And even if an election was decided by one vote, it would probably be recounted and eventually settled in the courts, no? So if it were legal to sell my presidential vote, I'd probably part with it for a fun size Snickers bar.

In an alderman election, especially one involving McGee, it's probably a little higher. McGee and ANYONE ELSE are very different candidates in terms of quality. Also, the odds of my one vote deciding the election are much greater, although still very very close to zero. I suppose if it were legal, I'd sell my alderman vote for a domestic tap at happy hour.