Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

> For example, on Nov. 1, 2016, Mackey allegedly tweeted an image that featured an African American woman standing in front of an “African Americans for [the Candidate]” sign. The image included the following text: “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home. Text ‘[Candidate’s first name]’ to 59925[.] Vote for [the Candidate] and be a part of history.” The fine print at the bottom of the image stated: “Must be 18 or older to vote. One vote per person. Must be a legal citizen of the United States. Voting by text not available in Guam, Puerto Rico, Alaska or Hawaii. Paid for by [Candidate] for President 2016.”

What are the chances of this being thrown out by the courts on First Amendment Freedom of Speech grounds?

"What Mackey allegedly did to interfere with this process – by soliciting voters to cast their ballots via text"

The United States charged a fictional mohawk-wearing character from the movie Major League, with election interference. It did so under a statute that never mentions “election interference.” In the leadup to the 2016 presidential election, “Ricky Vaughn” (in real life Doug Mackey) had about 58,000 Twitter followers (Account 1). Most, if not all his followers were either jobless idiots, trolls, or fellow meme-makers. In October 2016, his first account was suspended for violating Twitter rules. Mackey belonged to a chat group in which his fellow jerks speculated about how to post memes that would get the best reaction. With his first account banned, one of his “co-conspirators” gave Mackey an account with about 9,000 followers (Account 2). Mackey changed the avatar to the MAGA hat-wearing Ricky Vaughn avatar. It was from that account that Mackey posted a meme that resulted in his arrest for election interference. He wasn’t charged for four years. He won’t go to trial until six years after the fact. March 20, 2023.

Based on the Complaint’s allegations, Mackey seems to be motivated by equal parts of racism and attention-seeking. What is less clear is how a meme that, in my opinion, couldn’t motivate anyone with a working frontal lobe to “vote by text” could result in a charge of election interference.

It is questionable whether people foolish enough to vote via SMS should be considered competent enough to vote in the first place.

But then it is the failure of due diligence of educational system to teach from an early age how democracy works and how to participate in it.

People are trained to be doctors, lawyers, technologists etc, but the basic social skill of participating in democracy is not taught, when in fact it is the most important skill.

That and money management skills.

The suit alleges that Mackey violated "18 U.S. Code § 241 - Conspiracy against rights":

> If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or

> If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—

> They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

I wonder why they're only going after Mackey—other "co-conspirators" are mentioned in the suit, but their identities are hidden.

> The complaint alleges that in 2016, Mackey established an audience on Twitter with approximately 58,000 followers. A February 2016 analysis by the MIT Media Lab ranked Mackey as the 107th most important influencer of the then-upcoming Election, ranking his account above outlets and individuals such as NBC News (#114), Stephen Colbert (#119) and Newt Gingrich (#141).

:D

Taking people into court for jokes always feel like Democracy™

Wonder why this took so long. This was done by an influencer so no way it was under their radar for long?

Six years to prosecute somebody who basically live-streamed themselves committing a crime, makes me loose faith in the US governments ability to combat election interference.

[January 27, 2021]