Daily Beast: Free Gas Cards Are the GOP’s New Campaign Gimmick—and It’s Legal

Lucky drivers pulling up to a packed Chevron gas station south of Atlanta last Saturday finally saw a little relief at the pump, in the form of a $25 gas voucher straight from the goddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece.

The catch: They had to sit through a pitch for her political candidate of choice—college football hero, Olympic bobsledder, Russian roulette aficionado, and now aspiring Republican senator Herschel Walker. …

But the gas gimmick was so unusually overt that it nonplussed even veteran elections workers in the state—like Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia.

“I’ve never seen this before in my decades of Georgia politics,” Dennis told The Daily Beast. “And it’s specifically because of this outward perception of vote-buying.” …

For voting rights advocates in Georgia—who have spent years fighting state Republican officials’ continuous efforts to further codify voter suppression—the optics of the giveaway struck a freshly exposed nerve.

“I find it a little strange that we have a law that basically says people can’t give out food and water so that voters waiting in line can have a comfortable experience, but somehow it’s appropriate to give out gas to voters,” said Dennis, of Common Cause Georgia.

Dennis also pointed to the case of Olivia Pearson, a city commissioner and voting rights activist in Coffee County, who has been arrested multiple times for trying to help disadvantaged neighbors vote.

However, Dennis added that if the people behind the giveaway thought they could poach votes with a few gas vouchers, they weren’t giving Georgia voters enough credit.

“You really think they’re that desperate?” she said. “It’s disrespecting people’s knowledge of the system and the value that they place on their vote.”

Dennis, a mom, recounted that she had paid $62 to fill up her car earlier that day—“hoo, that’s a bit much”—and would have to fill up again by the end of the week.

“So I understand the cost, and that inflation is really high, but I understand the power of my vote as well,” she said. “There are apparently political folks here who think Georgians are that desperate and will fall for anything. But we know the value of our vote.”