Okay, so it was a violation of Federal laws regarding the solicitation of votes, but we meant well.

In an important update to this story on Election Day freebies designed to reward those Americans who participated in the democratic (small D) process, it turns out that Starbucks' offer of a free tall cup of their brew to anyone who said they voted was a violation of Federal law. It seems it can be interpreted as a reward for voting (well, duh!) and that is illegal.

So Starbucks is changing the rules a bit: Anybody who walks in and asks for a free tall cup of brew gets ones. Yay! Just before I discovered this news (through the Drudge Report, which means I should go wash my hands), I had asked a Taiwanese friend if she wanted to go with me and get a free cup. Since she's not a US citizen, of course, we were planning to deceive the baristas just a little (my friend did vote, but we just weren't going to say what country she voted in). Now we don't have to be crafty to get caffeine! Yay!

Anyway, I hope that the Feds are equally diligent in dealing with all the other voting irregularities and voting law violations that are bound to happen today. 

Update (later that evening):

I went to Starbucks with my Taiwanese friend. We both got free coffees (one decaf and one regular) happily brewed by a bubbly barista. On the way home there were two people smoking pot behind the school.