The Nevada Native Vote Project posted photos on Facebook on Election Day of smiling voters holding $25 gift cards after handing over their ballots.
The posts have since been deleted but not before they were archived.
Offering gift cards for ballots wasn’t the only way the Nevada Native Vote Project enticed people to vote. In a video that could be seen on Facebook on Nov. 24, Bethany Sam, the public relations officer for the Reno–Sparks Indian Colony, urged people to come out and vote by offering “some extra swag that we can give out.”
“We have twenty-five $25 gift cards to raffle off so that’s a lot of money in cash here,” Sam said, adding that voters need only send a photo of themselves at the polling place to enter. “We have also four $100 gift cards to give away, so again you want to make sure to get out here and vote. And then, we have four $250 gift cards to raffle. And our grand prize is going to be a $500 Visa gift card to the person or native voters who came out early this week for early voting.”
Sam stood beside two older people who were holding free T-shirts they received for coming out to vote. She added that more shirts were still available, in addition to keychains, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and stickers.
People were offered a chance to win cash and expensive prizes on or before Election Day in places other than Nevada. The Epoch Times has reviewed photos and videos that document the same scheme in eight other states, including the perennial battlegrounds of Arizona, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Another scrubbed video shows Sam promoting a swag giveaway in front of a Biden-Harris bus sometime before the end of Nevada’s early voting period on Oct. 30.
“If you can, get down here and get yourself some swag, see the Biden-Harris campaign bus and then you can go in person or drop your ballot off at our Reno polling location here,” Sam said.
“We have a lot of our community members here waiting to get their swag,” she added, speaking through a Biden-Harris mask. “Get down here and get your swag and vote.”
Michigan
The Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in Michigan offered $20 gas cards to anyone who sent pictures of themselves voting. The group also didn’t immediately respond to a request sent to its Facebook page.
Washington
A video from Washington shows a “Native vote team” in front of a Biden sign promoting a voter raffle for a $200 gift card and other prizes. A Facebook post from the same group said the raffle included two dozen $25 gas cards. At the prize drawing for the raffle, one of the participants said “you won $25 worth of gas how cool, just for voting.”
Idaho
The Nez Perce tribe in Idaho raffled off gift cards worth $50 to $500, a Smart TV, and an Apple iPad for people who cast an absentee ballot, voted, or registered to vote.
Texas
The American Indians in Texas group on Facebook raffled off gift cards worth up to $250 and a 58-inch television.
Ohio
Councilwoman Shayla Davis of Garfield Heights, Ohio, posted on Facebook offering $25 gas gift cards, T-shirts, and masks for people who came out to vote.
This is an excerpt from The Epoch Times.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
