Can votes be bought with pizza? Apparently Ohio Rpublicans believe they can.
No matter how you slice it the presidential race in Ohio is close. Close enough that a few pizzas could be the difference.
Republicans allege that Obama for America and state Democrats distributed free pizza at campus rallies as a way to entice college students to vote for the president.
"We feel that they are influencing people's vote for President Obama," said Matthew Henderson, spokesman for the Ohio Republican Party.
They filed an election complaint in Franklin County alleging the "Buckeyes for Obama" student organization at Ohio State University violated a law that prohibits offering something of value for a person's vote.
Henderson says the issue isn't just giving pizza away, it's the fact that those getting the pizza were immediately loaded up on vans or buses and taken to early voting centers to cast a ballot.
"There is a law in Ohio that says this is a violation and its there for a reason," Henderson said.
The party attached an affidavit to the complaint quoting an anonymous student staffer of the Obama campaign who said the campaign has an "unlimited" tab with the pizza chain Donatos for six rallies where student could catch buses to an early voting center.
"The staffer admits that the pizza was paid for by the campaign."
The Ohio Democratic Party said the challenge shows confused priorities.
"What we're seeing are the Republicans going to court over a pizza party while Democrats had to go to court to restore voting access for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans," said ODP spokesman Jerid Kurtz.
He calls the complaint "a reach" and says offering free food at campaign events is common.
"I think this complaint makes them look childish. It's ridiculous."
