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“It’s entirely imaginable that these kind of controversies will emerge if Donald Trump goes into Cleveland without 1,237,” said Dan Tokaji, an expert in election law at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, referring the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination. “There’s going to be a furious jockeying for these delegates.”

An ABC News analysis of historical records from the Supreme Court of Ohio Law Library shows that Ohio lawmakers added this specific language for conventions and delegates for moments just like the upcoming convention in Cleveland.

Lawmakers passed the original law on bribery in state elections in 1871, but added language to “protect the elections of voluntary political associations” three years later, on the cusp of the contentious 1876 Republican convention in Cincinnati, which took seven ballots to crown a nominee.

“Purchases of votes for money have been openly made in the hall where conventions were held,” says an 1874 Cincinnati Enquirer story decrying people “who become delegates for no purpose in the world but to sell their votes to the highest bidder” at local conventions.

A 1874 Cincinnati Enquirer story bemoans local convention corruption, pushing new law. https://t.co/kxIGM7Uxkd pic.twitter.com/FeQNhueMXn

— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) April 14, 2016

“The Ohio state statute is a regulation set forth by the state of Ohio,” said RNC spokesperson Lindsay Walters. “It is up to the individual delegates and campaigns to ensure that they are in compliance with any applicable federal regulations.”

The law ultimately adds that a candidate would need to forfeit the nomination if they are found guilty of bribery. “I think it is something that could be accomplished with respect to state and local options,” Tokaji said. “I doubt it would be enforceable with respect to a president.”

Still, more questions than answers remain about how the law would be interpreted. “Could one use it against another campaigns?” wondered Hodson. “If you thought an opponent was violating this statute, would you then run to the county prosecutor or state attorney general and ask that criminal charges be brought?”

Tokaji raised questions about how the law’s broad language would ultimately be applied. “It’s not the most clearly written law,” he said. “Let’s say your dad is a delegate: you couldn’t give him a birthday present.”

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