Posted on 01/30/2016 4:38:30 PM PST by McGruff
Iowa's secretary of state chastised the presidential campaign of Senator Ted Cruz on Saturday for sending a mailer that he said violated "the spirit of the Iowa caucuses" and misrepresented state election law.
The secretary of state, Paul D. Pate, called the effort "misleading."
"Accusing citizens of Iowa of a 'voting violation' based on Iowa caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act," Mr. Pate said. "There is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency of voting. Any insinuation or statement to the contrary is wrong and I believe it is not in keeping in the spirit of the Iowa caucuses."
Mr. Pate added that his office never "grades" voters, nor does it maintain records of caucus participation. He said that the office also did not "distribute" voter records, but they were available "for purchase for political purposes only, under Iowa Code."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Pate, a Gov. Branstad Ethanal Republican!
I wouldn't have been surprised if this had come from bull-in-the-china-shop Trump, but Cruz?
Man, I would have been pist at this effrontery, no matter who it came from - and would have killed my vote for him.
We're Americans, dammit, and NOBODY is going to be browbeaten like this.
But millions now know of it. This is an adaptation of old direct mail advertising gimmick that was conceived of before the rise of social media. That's why they didn't anticipate the (still-mounting) blowback.
.
We’ll see Monday night. If Cruz gets 25+%, he’s in great shape. If he gets 20+% and finishes in the top two, he’ll be fine. If he gets 15+% and finishes third, that will be worrisome. If he drops below 15% or below third, he’s in big trouble.
The KGB would be proud.
I bet it didn’t go to more than 5,000 people
So how many would have made it ok? Just wondering where the cut off on creepy/spooky vs. Invasion of privacy is.
That indicates a degree of tone deafness that is probably incurable. If I got a notice like that I would be furious, and I would expect that most of my neighbors would feel the same way.
It may turn out more voters, if they don't figure out the scam - scared and worried voters. Once they find out it is a campaign trick they'll be angry voters. Hard to see how that helps a candidate.
Anybody who can't even manage their campaign in one state lacks the management skills necessary to be successful in the general election.
Yep, they never saw it coming.
I'm pretty sure this is a technique that will not be used again by anyone of either party.
While I believe it could never have been effective, it's now known as counter-productive in the extreme.
Worst of all for the Cruz campaign is that it dovetails into the "unlikable and creepy" meme which has been a matter of public discussion for some time. that's the reason it's getting this much traction.
And it does make Cruz look unlikable and creepy.
I'm surprised Trump has not made a bigger deal of it. Oh well, there's still tomorrow lol
Now day I get lot of messages forward from Cruz supporters to my facebook account. Same stuff they post here , they spam facebook also. Just now hide post of
‎Michael West‎ to Free Republic on Facebook
I am sick of begging phone call from Cruz. I am registered as Independent. I have never donated to any of Campaign.
Another Freeper suggested Trump merely mention it in passing, shrug, and go on to more important issues, so as not to appear to be ‘piling on’ (creating sympathy for Cruz). Seems like the right approach to me.
Apparently the Secretary of State disagrees with Ted’s position.
The following is an image of a mailer Senator Ted Cruz sent out intimidating and threatening voters. It contains voter information and the information of the voter's neighbors.
It threatens "follow up notices" with no doubt information about if the voter voted in the caucus.
It attempts to intimidate voters by threatening public disclosure to neighbors of a person's voting record.
One must ask what does Senator Ted Cruz expect the person receiving this notice should do to their neighbors for not voting as Senator Ted Cruz demands, and what might happen to the voter if the neighbors are informed they have not voted as Senator Ted Cruz expects?
These are direct threats and intimidations in violation of federal election, civil rights, and postal laws.
Intimidate: To frighten someone using derogatory information in order to make them do what one wants.
The following PDF document outlines the federal election laws and the government's position on such matters for the purposes of prosecutions in such matters.
Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses Seventh Edition, May 2007
The following sections are from the above document.
42 U.S. Code § 1973gg-10 - Criminal penalties (violation of election law)
A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office-
(1) knowingly and willfully intimidates, threatens, or coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any person for-
(A) registering to vote, or voting, or attempting to register or vote;
(B) urging or aiding any person to register to vote, to vote, or to attempt to register or vote; or
(C) exercising any right under this subchapter; or
(2) knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by-
(A) the procurement or submission of voter registration applications that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held; or
(B) the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held,
shall be fined in accordance with title 18 (which fines shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury, miscellaneous receipts (pursuant to section 3302 of title 31), notwithstanding any other law), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
18 U.S. Code § 594 - Intimidation of voters
Whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, at any election held solely or in part for the purpose of electing such candidate, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
18 U.S. Code § 245 - Federally protected activities
(b) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, by force or threat of force willfully injures, intimidates or interferes with, or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with-
(1) any person because he is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from-
(A)
voting or qualifying to vote, qualifying or campaigning as a candidate for elective office, or qualifying or acting as a poll watcher, or any legally authorized election official, in any primary, special, or general election;
(5)
any citizen because he is or has been, or in order to intimidate such citizen or any other citizen from lawfully aiding or encouraging other persons to participate, without discrimination on account of race, color, religion or national origin, in any of the benefits or activities described in subparagraphs (1)(A) through (1)(E) or subparagraphs (2)(A) through (2)(F), or participating lawfully in speech or peaceful assembly opposing any denial of the opportunity to so participate- shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both;
It’s hugely the stupidest damned thing Cruz has done. Piss off voters who you have no reason to believe would vote for you anyway, then scare them to vote?
But trying to make it into an ethics issue is also lame. It’s a gimmick. It looks like a gimmick. It’s plainly marked that it’s from the Cruz campaign.
I started reading this and I thought it was from Oral Roberts. “If I don’t raise $10,000,000 in 30 days God will call me home.”
This is the identical tactic that Oral Roberts used.
Is that what brought him down?
No. It was death that finally brought him down. You should have seen the fraudulent preachers in attendance.
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