Street money is used to influence elections by buying votes, often in low-income minority neighborhoods. It can be distributed through local party offices or by offering cash or compensation for voting. Politicians may claim ignorance of how the money is used.
Street money is money that is used to influence the outcome of an election by essentially buying votes. In many areas, the practice of outright vote buying is banned, but street money can take advantage of a variety of loopholes and officials willing to look the other way. Many people consider the practice highly objectionable, since it is somewhat immoral, and several politicians have taken a firm stand on the issue, refusing to fork over money on the street because they deem it undemocratic.
When politicians distribute this money, they typically give large funds to local party offices and organizers, rather than managing the money themselves. The local party office can decide how best to distribute the money, based on the community involved and the amount of funds available. By divorcing the practice, politicians can also claim ignorance, saying they didn’t know how the money would be used.
In one form of street money disbursement, voters are offered cash or other compensation, such as food, for voting. In these cases, voters aren’t explicitly told how to vote, but the implications are clear: By accepting money from a particular campaign, a voter assumes some sort of obligation to vote for that campaign. Another distribution technique involves paying people for jobs they don’t actually do, thus hiding the fact that it’s street money. For example, someone might receive money for working as a telephone salesman, when they haven’t actually worked for the campaign.
Money can also be used to influence people who are important in a community. By offering funds to these people, a campaign hopes to buy their support and support, mobilizing these people and the organizations they work with to get the vote across on Election Day. In this case, street money can be distributed in a variety of ways, from grants to community organizations to cash payments.
As a general rule, street money goes to low-income minority neighborhoods. It takes advantage of poverty and lack of knowledge of the rules of politics to manipulate the vote, using the masses of these communities to skew election results in favor of a particular campaign. This practice is also extremely prevalent in politics and is very difficult to control, making it attractive even to otherwise ethical politicians who may think they cannot win an election without street money.
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