2016 GOP Presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul blasted fellow White House hopeful Ted Cruz for controversial mailers in Iowa Saturday that many have found to be immensely creepy.
Paul noted that Cruz is attacking Iowa Republicans for missing votes while he himself missed a crucial vote to “Audit The Fed,” a cornerstone of the party’s liberty wing and a decades old goal of Ron Paul.
In a statement, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate also took issue with the “Misleading Mailer” from Cruz’s Campaign:
“Today I was shown a piece of literature from the Cruz for President campaign that misrepresents the role of my office, and worse, misrepresents Iowa election law,” Pete said. “Accusing citizens of Iowa of a “voting violation” based on Iowa Caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act. There is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency o…f 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.
Additionally, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office never “grades” voters. Nor does the Secretary of State maintain records related to Iowa Caucus participation. Caucuses are organized and directed by the state political parties, not the Secretary of State, nor local elections officials. Also, the Iowa Secretary of State does not “distribute” voter records. They are available for purchase for political purposes only, under Iowa Code.”
CI Previously wrote:
“Mailers sent from the Ted Cruz Presidential campaign to Iowa Republicans are causing immense controversy for the Texas Senator and White House hopeful, threatening Iowans by saying they will send notices to their neighbors if they don’t vote.
In what has been dubbed “voting violations” by the Cruz campaign, the mailers show a voter their “voter score,” which is comprised by how many times they have voted before. It also shows the scores of neighbors.
This is sure to be yet another win for Donald Trump and also likely helps Marco Rubio as well.
Part of the mailer says:
“You are receiving this election notice because of low expected voter turnout in your area. Your individual voting history as well as your neighbors’ are public record. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well. CAUCUS ON MONDAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE and please encourage your neighbors to caucus as well. A follow-up notice may be issued following Monday’s caucuses.”
The whole thing has a very creepy NSA vibe to it…
According to IJ Review:
“The reaction on Twitter was swift, and largely negative. Many viewed the mailer as a privacy violation. As the mailer notes, the information on it was pulled from public records, and that is legal, but printing the names and voter records like that, along with the implication that the neighbors are seeing the same information, is unsettling to some. The Iowa Supervisor of Elections does not actually assign voter grades like this mailer implies.
“These kind of mailers are fraught with risk,” said Republican media strategist Rick Wilson, who has done some work for a Rubio Super PAC. “They do work, but the social pressure stuff has got to be subtle. This, on the other hand, is like a sledgehammer.”
Similar mailers were sent out during the 2012 race to encourage people to vote for Barack Obama, and were also met with condemnation.”
