Wanna make $1 million? Vote in Arizona

Arizona voters this fall will vote on — get this — “a proposal to award $1 million in every general election to one lucky resident, chosen by lottery, simply for voting — no matter for whom.” (NYT story here.)

A “political gadfly” gathered more than 185,000 signatures of registered voters to put it on the ballot. This guy says the odds of winning $1 million in a random draw of those who voted is about 1 in 2,000,000 compared with the odds of winning Powerball — about 1 in 146,000,000.

The goal, says Mark Osterloh, promoter of the initiative, is to increase voter turnout.

Ah, hell. Why not? Let’s amend the Constitution to provide a voter lottery payoff in all 50 states. We’ll fund it with a tax on oil windfall profits.

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