http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/10/whats_street_money.html
It's an old, old practice. Used to be considered corrupt, and restricted in practice. Why? "Hey, you, you're poor. I don't care what your party affiliation, but I'll give you $50 if you into that building and vote for this candidate." It tilts the motivation from citizenship to "gimme money". The only exception to that would be if the poor person was also a liar; some would find that humorous, but I tend to think of lying as immoral.
Lately walking-around money's been remoralized in a "whatever it takes for us to get power must be moral because it's helping the moral get power and impose correct morality on the wrong-headed opposition." Then again, politics these days are often based on a rephrasing of JFK, "Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you." Of course, that flips JFK's noble saying entirely on its head and makes it utterly venal. Then again, lying's also been remoralized into a virtue by some.
I distinguish paying people to vote from providing money to organized GOTV workers. Wouldn't actually mind it if local BOEs even were able to say to organizations, "Provide drivers to help get people to the polls, they can gas up here in the morning, but we'll check mileage before you can fill up a second time and if you want to participate in this program next time there's an election." Provided that all organizations were treated equally and we weren't blind to partisan bias.
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