Verify: Is it legal to hand out food at the polls?

ST. LOUIS — For weeks, Americans have been waiting in long lines to cast their vote in the 2020 general election. Some groups have even offered to feed voters waiting in line, and the Verify team is looking into what legal restrictions they might confront.

First, let’s look at federal law.

QUESTION:

Is it legal under federal law to hand out food to voters waiting in line at polling places?


ANSWER:

Yes, as long as they are not asking for anything in return or trying to influence someone's vote.

SOURCES:

Jon Greenbaum, Chief Counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Tammy Patrick, Senior Advisor at the nonpartisan voter advocacy foundation Democracy Fund
Scott Duncombe, co-founder of Pizza to the Polls, a nonprofit that sends pizza to voters waiting in long lines

PROCESS:

Our experts told us that when determining the legality of handing things out to people waiting to vote, what really matters is whether there is a quid pro quo.

"In terms of federal law, where you cross the line is if you're buying somebody's vote," Jon Greenbaum, attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law says. "If a person told a voter, 'if you vote for x-candidate, I will give you food,' that's going to violate federal law."

Tammy Patrick is a Senior Advisor at the Democracy Fund. She told us the same thing in an emailed statement:

"It is not lawful to reward a voter for voting or to require proof of voting in order to obtain something of monetary value...Anyone offering something with strings attached may be overstepping the boundaries."