Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown sent a cease-and-desist letter to a left-leaning group sending threatening mailers to voters.
Mr. Brown, a Democrat, demanded that the Center for Voter Information, partner to the Voter Participation Center, stop sending the mailers that his office alleged threatened to publicly expose registered voters who don’t cast a ballot in Tuesday’s election.
“Voting is among the most important rights that Marylanders have. Any action that intimidates prospective voters, especially on the eve of such a consequential election, will not be tolerated,” Mr. Brown said in a statement on Thursday. “Let me be clear: These unnerving letters are unacceptable, and Maryland voters should know that their decision to vote this Election Day is entirely theirs to make.”
In the letter to the Center for Voter Information, the attorney general’s office wrote that it began receiving complaints on Wednesday from voters who had received the mailers.
The mailers, labeled “Voting Report Card,” included the recipient’s name and the blacked-out names of two neighbors and addresses, plus how they voted in the past four election cycles, which the organization said it retrieved from publicly available state voter files.
The mailers were signed by Gail Kitch, chairwoman of the Center for Voter Information.
“Remember, who you vote for is private, but whether or not you voted is public record,” the letter read. “We’re sending this mailing to you and to your neighbors to share who does and does not vote in an effort to promote election participation. While we have hidden the name and street number of your neighbors to protect privacy, these are true voting records.
“We will be reviewing these records after the election to determine whether or not you joined our neighbors in voting.”
The mailers run afoul of Maryland and federal law, Mr. Brown wrote in his letter.
While Maryland law permits a requestor to receive a copy of the voter registration list with voters’ election participation history included, state law prohibits conduct intended to “influence or attempt to influence a voter’s decision through the use of force, fraud, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward or offer of reward.”
“CVI/VPC’s blunt recourse to social coercion subjects a registered voter to unlawful forms of pressure for the purpose of ‘promot[ing] election participation,’” Mr. Brown wrote.
He ordered the organization to enter into a court-enforceable agreement to stop sending the letter, to halt any future threatening communications and to agree to not follow through on the threats in the mailers. The Center for Voter Information was given until Friday to acquiesce.
Scott E. Thomas, a lawyer for the Center for Voter Information, called Mr. Brown’s accusations “irresponsible” in a letter on Friday and questioned the attorney general’s characterization of the organization’s mailers.
Mr. Thomas referred to the mailers as constitutionally protected get-out-the-vote letters, and wrote that “there is nothing in the content of these letters that constitutes a violation of Maryland or federal law.”
He said that it was neither “threatening” nor “intimidating” to promote voting in the mailers by “discussing neighborhood participation rates and stating that the records will be reviewed after the election to determine whether the recipient joined their neighbors in voting.”
Mr. Thomas also accused Mr. Brown of baselessly claiming that the organization sent mail or text messages that included the statement “go to the polls to cast a vote; or vote by any other means” and “We’ll be sharing a report after the election of those who didn’t vote.”
“Your letter also relied on an ‘implication’ that VPC and CVI are planning to publicize information that identifies particular voters and their voting history,” Mr. Thomas wrote. “That is simply false. That is not something that VPC or CVI has ever done, or would do in the future.”
“To conjecture otherwise is irresponsible,” he wrote. “Based on a fair assessment of the actual facts, we expect that you will correct the record and withhold taking any legal action.”
Earlier this week, House Republicans accused the outside group of disguising mailers as nonpartisan voter information guides in a slew of races that could decide control of the lower chamber.
The Republicans accused the Center for Voter Information of trying to suppress votes by providing false information on candidates’ stances on issues such as immigration and supporting small businesses in the mailers.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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