Hundreds of Bernie Sanders supporters accidentally donated more than the legal amount to his campaign

Constant fundraising requests combined with enthusiastic supporters led to more than 1,500 donors contributing more than was legally allowed to the Bernie Sanders campaign, The Atlantic reports. "It's very similar to what drug dealers use or casinos use to get people to continue to play," Timothy Fong, the co-director of the Gambling Studies Program at UCLA, said of such fundraising requests, which incite urgency and impulsiveness.

Sanders' campaign was built on grassroots support, and it drew in many people who had never donated to a political campaign before and who perhaps didn't fully understand the federal laws or lost track of how much they had contributed. Many who donated did so frequently, and without an awareness of the $2,700 limit for individual contributions to a campaign.

By comparison, President Obama had only refunded $1.5 million by the end of July in 2008. This year, Hillary Clinton's campaign has refunded $3.4 million so far.

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