JEFFERSONVILLE, Ga. — 200 lucky shoppers in rural Twiggs County now have $50 dollars worth of groceries thanks to 34N22, a super political action committee, or super PAC, supporting U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker.
But is it legal for a Super PAC like this one to do this? We set out to verify.
Our sources are U.S. Code and the Federal Election Committee.
“Support Herschel. Support Herschel in the fall," said Stephen Lawson with 34N22.
"This helps a lot, because you know food done went up," said Teondra King.
Dozens of people filed into the Piggly Wiggly Tuesday morning with a fresh voucher from the group.
"I'm completely shocked. Like you don’t expect this in Jeffersonville," said shopper Melissa Davis.
Some shoppers already knew before Tuesday who they planned to cast a ballot for this November.
"I really like Herschel Walker. I pretty much agree with what he stands for. It’s a great thing that he’s doing," Davis said.
Others like Jacqulyn Blackshear say this voucher has pushed them to vote for walker this fall.
"Really, I hadn’t thought about it, but now I know Herschel is going to be number one," Blackshear said.
Several Democrats have been critical of the PAC’s strategy of giving out grocery and gas vouchers given Georgia’s new election law which bans groups from giving out refreshments to voters waiting in line to cast ballots.
Under state and federal law, it’s illegal for anyone to pay or give anything of value for exchange of a vote.
In this case, the PAC is giving the vouchers out to anyone and without condition, which makes it legal.
"We’re giving these out without condition. Certainly, there are going to be some people undecided this November, but we’re just trying to give them an option," Lawson said.
We also asked the Federal Election Commission on if it’s legal. They oversee Super PACs like 34N22.
The agency says their rules do not address PACs giving away vouchers for groceries. Though if a PAC is spending funds to purchase vouchers, the PAC may be required to disclose the disbursements for these purchases on their FEC campaign finance reports.
We verified, yes, under federal law, it is legal for the super PAC to give out grocery vouchers.