The Attorney General’s Office has sent a cease-and-desist order to an organization sending Maryland voters letters that report their voting records and the records of their neighbors. Photo by Danielle J. Brown.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office sent a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to a national voter engagement organization that it says is sending out mailers that “threaten to publicly expose” voting records of Marylanders just days out from the 2024 election.
The letter is in response to an unsolicited “Voting Report Card” that has been sent to people across the state by the Voter Participation Center, a nonprofit that claims to try to drive more voters to the polls, specifically unmarried women, people of color and young voters. A sister organization, the Center for Voter Information, has also been sending out mailers.
The mailer that Marylanders have been receiving lists the voter’s name, address and voting records beginning with the 2016 general election. It also allegedly shows what it claims are voting records of neighbors, though names and addresses are censored.
The letter also states that the Voter Participation Center “will be reviewing these records after the election to determine whether or not you joined your neighbors in voting.”
The letter has led some voters to feel “intimidated, threatened, shocked, and ill-at-ease,” said the letter from Attorney General Anthony G. Brown. But more than that, he said, the letters could violate Maryland law.
“Significantly, your communication to ‘review these records after the election to determine whether or not you joined your neighbors in voting,’ is intimidating registered voters who are concerned about the repercussions for voting, or for not voting,” Brown wrote.
“In Maryland, it is a criminal misdemeanor to: ‘willfully and knowingly… influence or attempt to influence a voter’s decision through use of force, fraud, threat, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward, or offer of reward, whether to i) go to the polls to cast a vote; or ii) vote by any other means,’” the letter says. “Importantly, Maryland’s law does not only prohibit behavior aimed at suppressing the franchise, but also restricts inappropriate attempts to compel voting behavior.”
The letter says the Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information must stop sending mailings that contain such “threats,” and must refrain from sending out future mailers that report Marylanders’ voting records. The Attorney General’s Office also wants the organizations to enter into a “binding and enforceable agreement memorializing these commitments.”
If the organizations do not respond, Brown said his office will seek additional legal actions.
But Tom Lopach, president and CEO of the the two organizations, defended the mailings, saying the language is the most effective strategy for getting people out to vote.
“I recognize that some people find the language in our letters off-putting,” Lopach said during an interview before the cease-and-desist letter was sent. “But again, for well over a decade, we’ve used letters like this. And we’ve used and tested letters with softer language, and what we have found is that this is the most effective get-out-the-vote letter that we can use.”
Lopach said the centers have been working “for over 21 years” to increase voter participation.
“In everything we do, we run a randomized control trial. We test different language year after year, in special elections, in general elections, off years, midterm elections, and we have found that these letters are the most effective tool at increasing voter turnout, especially among the young population we serve,” he said.
Jared DeMarinis, Maryland State Board of Elections administrator, said voter registration information is public record, so long as it is used for “electoral purposes.”
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“Voter registration, voter registries are public records,” DeMarinis said. “The only restriction on their use is it has to be for electoral purposes. Getting individuals to vote is an electoral purpose … you could not use it for solicitations.”
DeMarinis would not speak to the legality of the letters, but acknowledged that the board has received calls from concerned voters.
“Whether they receive this letter or not, they shouldn’t be deterred from voting,” DeMarinis said. “I just hope that Marylanders always come out and vote, because I want their voices to be heard.”
Nikki Tyree, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Maryland, believes that the letters are well-intentioned, but that the language “missed the mark.”
“I think the letters were very misguided,” she said.
“Right now we live in a time where people are not feeling as secure as they should. I think that the letters were trying to get someone to go, ‘Hey, do you want to come with me?’” Tyree said. “And it just didn’t land.”
“I think right now, especially with all the rhetoric around voting, nobody wants to appear like they’re trying to intimidate voters into going to the polls,” she said. “People want to be reminded to vote. They don’t want to feel like they have to vote because they’re being watched.”
While Tyree said the league appreciates any efforts to improve voter turnout, she wishes that national voter groups like Voter Participation Center would reach out to state voting organizations first.
“If this group had reached out to us, or Common Cause, we would have been able to tell them very quickly, ‘Don’t do that,’” Tyree said. “It seems that they are removed from the actual rhetoric going on around voting. And that is concerning, because when it comes to the state groups that are actively trying to fight back on misinformation – sending things out like this can really be a detriment.”
Lopach said the centers consult with lawyers to make sure that all of their efforts are “100% legal.” But the goal remains, of ensuring that as many people vote as possible.
“In the current environment, it is all the more important to use the most effective tools to turn out the voters that many folks are trying to keep from voting,” Lopach said.
“If a person finds the letter not to their liking, they should recycle it and turn out the vote,” he said.