The Chronicle‘s Bill Murphy reports that some questionable political ads have been pulled from the air:
A Vietnamese community group agreed Tuesday to pull radio ads that county officials said might violate election laws by offering $5 coupons to people who vote.
The Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinity, a nonprofit organization, agreed to pull the ads on Vietnamese-language KJOJ-AM (880) and KYND-AM (1520) after the county clerk’s office notified station officials that the spots likely were illegal, said David Beirne, spokesman for Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman.
State and federal laws prohibit cash incentives for voting.
A $5 coupon isn’t quite the same as cash, but it seems close enough to violate the spirit of the election laws.
