A Web site offering citizens a chance to auction their vote to the highest bidder is back online today using a pure Internet protocol (IP) address.

A Web site offering citizens a chance to auction their vote to the highest bidder is back online today using a pure Internet protocol (IP) address after its Internet address was shut down, apparently by the company that sold the original domain name. The original site, http://www.voteauction.com, was shut down last month after the Chicago Board of Elections determined that the site violated state law by offering to exchange money for votes. On Oct 18, an Illinois circuit court judge subsequently approved an injunction against the site. The original Wisconsin-based site was reportedly sold to Austrian businessman Luzius Bernhard, who registered the site under a similar name -this time with a hyphen - at http://www.vote-auction.com, with the help of as Austria's Silver Server Internet service provider (ISP) and another supporting ISP in Germany. Wisconsin Attorney General James Doyle then filed a temporary restraining order against the site's operators, as well as the German and Austrian-based ISPs. Pursuant to the standing Illinois injunction, the address was yanked off the Internet, apparently by the Swiss parent company of the Internet registrar that maintains www.vote-auction.com.