[EL] great and disturbing piece on voter intimidation

[Larry Levine]

On very rare occasions I have seen a winning candidate for local office send
a "thank you for voting" mailer in which he or she would say "whether you
voted for me or not, I will provide the best service to everyone in the
community" and then provide information on how to communicate with his or
her office. It can't be done at public expense if it goes only to those who
voted.

Larry

 

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Michael
J. Hanmer
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 10:19 AM
To: Adam Bonin; 'Kogan, Vladimir'; 'Rick Hasen'; 'Mark Rush';
law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] great and disturbing piece on voter intimidation

 

I wonder if the answer depends in part on whether the effort is part of an
academic research project.  I would think that IRBs would require the actual
follow-up or if not would require a debriefing letter indicating that the
recipient was part of a study.

 

Several groups sent mailers using this general tactic to registrants in
Northern VA, including one from a vague source which leads me to believe
that at least that one was part of a larger experiment.

 

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Adam
Bonin
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 12:51 PM
To: 'Kogan, Vladimir'; 'Rick Hasen'; 'Mark Rush'; law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] great and disturbing piece on voter intimidation

 

Thank you.  I assume no one ever actually sends out the post-election
mailers.

 

From: Kogan, Vladimir [mailto:kogan.18 at osu.edu] 
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 12:50 PM
To: Adam Bonin; 'Rick Hasen'; 'Mark Rush'; law-election at uci.edu
Subject: RE: [EL] great and disturbing piece on voter intimidation

 

During the Walker recall in Wisconsin, the mailings warned: "After the June
5th election, public records will tell everyone who voted and who didn't." 

 

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/06/04/union-backed-group-publicizes-wisconsini
tes-voting-records/

 

Similar efforts by Americans for Limited Government last year said, "As a
further service ,we will be updating our records after the expected high
turnout for the Tuesday, November, 6, 2012 election. We will send an updated
vote history audit to you and your neighbors with the results."
http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2012/11/01/Woman-is-told-group-has-audit
-of-neighborhood-elections-activity.html

 

From: Adam Bonin [mailto:adam at boninlaw.com] 
Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 12:41 PM
To: Kogan, Vladimir; 'Rick Hasen'; 'Mark Rush'; law-election at uci.edu
Subject: RE: [EL] great and disturbing piece on voter intimidation

 

I remembered that they studied it and it was effective
(http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/apsrfeb08gerberetal.pdf ); what I wasn't
sure about was whether the tactic had become a regular part of GOTV
practice.

 
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