Voteauction.com was a satirical website that during the 2000 U.S. presidential election offered U.S. citizens an anonymous and quick way to sell their vote to the highest bidder. New York Times, But the Authorities Are Not Amused and Talk of Legal Action: Web Site Offers an Auction for Votes, By Brian Knowlton Published: October 18, 2000 13 U.S. states issued temporary restraining orders and injunctions, Lawsuit and injunctions BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO, LANGDON D. NEAL, RICHARD S. COWEN and THERESA M. PETRONE, vs. HANS BERNHARD, LUZIUS A. BERNHARD, OSKAR OBEREDER, CHRISTOPH JOHANNES MUTTER, JAMES BAUMGARTNER and DOMAIN BANK, INC. Spiegel Magazine: Behörden stoppen Stimmenverkauf im Web, 24.08.2000 Spiegel Magazine: Richter verbietet virtuellen Stimmenhandel, 19.10.2000 for alleged illegal vote trading and consumer fraud. Vote-Auction], exhibition "Eyebeam" New York Over 2,500 news media outlets reported on the project including a 27-minute CNN "Burden of Proof" special. Transcript: CNN, Burden of Proof. Bidding for Ballots: Democracy on the Block. Aired October 24, 2000 - 12:30 p.m. ET Video: CNN Burden of Proof. Bidding for Ballots: Democracy on the Block. Aired October 24, 2000 - 12:30 p.m. ET
Background
Voteauction was the brainchild of James Baumgartner, at the time a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Wired.com, Close Vote? You Can Bid on It, Mark K. Anderson, 08.17.00 the website was later sold for an undisclosed sum to Ubermorgen.com in Austria. The artist duo consisting of lizvlx (AT) and Hans Bernhard (CH/USA) ran it from August 1 – November 7, 2000, posing as "Eastern European business people". CNN.com called them "Maverick Austrian Businessmen". Vote-selling Web site to be revived, possibly offshore, CNN.com, August 25, 2000 Legal precautions against extradition and rendition were taken by consulting specialists in different countries and by physically moving on a daily basis. Excerpts from Ubermorgen.com communication with lawyers, ACLU, EFF The auctioning web-site was re-designed in September and underwent minor changes over the course of the project. Final web-site version Nov 7, 2000 Initial web-site version by James Baumgartner with minor changes by Ubermorgen.com The web-site initial domain voteauction.com (hosted by Domainbank) and the second domain vote-auction.com were disabled by American court orders Voteauction.net: Protected Political Speech or Treason? by Rebecca Murray, Associate Managing Editor for Suffolk University Law School Journal of High Technology Law, Juris Doctor, May 2005 and without legally served court order by CORENIC in Geneva, leading to a series of press-releases to communicate the new location, hence generating more publicity for the web-site. Press-Releases 02.11.2000, 06.11.2000, 07.11.2000, 22.10.2000 and 31.10.2000 The server-infrastructure was attacked several times and the site had to move to a more secure location.
Exhibitions
UBERMORGEN.COM shows all the original documents (approximately 700 kg of complaints, court decisions, injunctions) generated by the proceedings in exhibitions worldwide, UBERMORGEN, MEDIA HACKING VS CONCEPTUAL ART, Alessandro Ludovico (Ed.), Curriculum Vitae, page 196-203, Exhibitions 142-166 and refers to them as ‹foriginals› (a combination of ‹forged› and ‹original›). The permanent amalgamation of fact and fiction Wired News, Selling Votes or Peddling Lies? Mark K. Anderson, 10.30.00 realized in this way points toward an extremely expanded concept of one’s working materials, which for Ubermorgen.com also include (international) rights, democracy and global communication (input-feedback-loops). Medienkunstnetz, Category Communication project, Keywords Tactical Media, Process. Source: Inke Arns, «Soziale Technologien,» in: Die Offene Stadt - Anwendungsmodelle. Jahresprogramm der Kokerei Zollverein, Essen, 2003 Vote-Auction was exhibited at the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (Austria) 2005, Eyebeam New York, 2010, expo.02 Switzerland, 2002.
Related projects and Election Trilogy
As an affirmative approach towards the illegal delivery of court orders from U.S. courts to Europe, UBERMORGEN.COM released the "Injunction generator", an engine which renders customized court orders on demand. Injunction Generator, 2001, UBERMORGEN.COM
In 2004 UBERMORGEN.COM released the 2nd part of the "Election Trilogy" named *THE*AGENCY for manual election recount. *THE*AGENCY* Web-site SELLtheVOTE.COM DOES IT THE AMERICAN WAY - THE DEMOCRATIC WAY, November 02, 2004 In 2007 WAHLGELD.COM, a vote-buying and selling platform for the Swiss parliamentary elections was launched. The actual selling and buying of votes was covered by leaking information about the authors (as artists), NZZ.ch: Wirbel um Stimmenhandel bei den Wahlen Internetseite ruft zum illegalen Verkauf von Stimmen auf, 25. September 2007, 16:10, NZZ Online therefore the election commission, the media and the voters were certain about the non-commercial motivation. Approximately 700 electoral votes were bought for an average of CHF 75.-. Blick.ch, Oesis wollen unsere Stimmen kaufen, Simon Hehli | Aktualisiert um 07:38 | 26.09.2007
Team, collaborators, supporters, defendants, plaintiffs Ubermorgen.com Media Art Net, Vote-Auction project description Hans Bernhard Dr. Andreas Bichlbauer lizvlx a.k.a. Sandra Baierl a.k.a. Elisabeth Haas Wired.com: "Lawyers Are Cheap at Vote Auction", Mark K. Anderson, 11.09.00 James Baumgartner Slashdot article and comments on "Voteauction.com", Posted by michael on Thursday August 17, @10:39AM Tilmann Singer Credits on the official Vote-Auction.net web-site Silver Server lo-res.org Oskar Obereder Christoph Johannes Mutter hell.com Bootlab Berlin Domenico Quaranta Domenico Quaranta (ed), UBERMORGEN.COM, FPEditions, Brescia 2009 () Domain Bank Inc. Domain Bank Inc web-site Luzius Bernhard COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT, INJUNCTION AND OTHER RELIEF, IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY COUNTY DEPARTMENT, COUNTY DIVISION, naming all the defendants and leading to a preliminary injunction order Stephanie Schliepack Stephanie Schliepack, Lawyer, representing UBERMORGEN.COM, letter to CORE INTERNET COUNCIL OF REGISTRARS demanding the immediate turning-on of vote-acution.com domain. State of Missouri Voluntary Dismissal by the State of Missouri, Jeremaya W. (Jay) Nixon, State Attorney
References and notes
External links Vote-auction Website, with Archive