Don't drink and vote! -Joshua

Today is a national election day in Thailand. The Prime Minister, Mr. Taksin has been in big trouble lately as protests against him in Bangkok have been ongoing for the past month or so. To tell you the truth I'm not that interested in the intricacies of Thai politics or the outcome of the election. What I wanted to talk about was how when there is a national election in Thailand, the selling of alcohol is forbidden everywhere in the country from 6 PM the previous day to Midnight on the day of the election. Maybe this is commonplace in other countries as well but I had never heard of it. My Thai language tutor told me it is mainly done to stop any corruption/vote buying that could take place on the night before the election. It made me think....would a law like this make any difference in American elections? My guess would be no, Americans are not really big drinkers. I've seen stats saying that Thailand is the fifth largest consumer of alcohol in the world per capita. I'm sure the US is much further down the list. Still, it's interesting to think about.....