Iowa’s secretary of state rips Cruz over campaign mailer

Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz refused to apologize for a controversial “voter shaming” mailer sent out to Iowans in the run up to Monday’s all important Iowa caucus.

The mailer was a large card labeled in all capital letters to attempt to convey an urgent message.

Below is a photo of the mailer that surfaced Friday on Twitter.

The mailer said the goal was “because of low expected voter turnout in your area”.

The letter lists the name of the resident – as well as the specific names of their neighbors – along with a grade for how often they’ve voted. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well.

So as he has been pinballing from small towns on the Minnesota border to Sioux City in the west to Davenport in the east and Iowa City in between, Cruz has urged, nearly begged, people to caucus for him Monday night and to convince others to do the same.

He added there is no such thing as a violation based on infrequent 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”, Pate wrote.

“Many viewed the mailer as a privacy violation”.

Pate continued, “Additionally, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office never “grades” voters”.

Cruz said before a Saturday town hall in Sioux City, Iowa, that he remained hopeful front-runner Donald Trump would accept his invitation for a one-on-one debate.

According to Pate, whether or not someone votes is public record but are only “available for purchase for political purposes only”. The senator went on to argue that the Iowa Republican Party had previously used such mailers and characterized them as “routine”.

Rumpf was able to confirm that these mailers were indeed the work for the Cruz campaign, and that these tactics weren’t exactly new. Also, the Iowa Secretary of State does not “distribute” voter records. The man said he had not been planning to caucus, but upon receiving the mailer he was, in fact, persuaded to caucus – for Florida senator Marco Rubio, one of Cruz’s chief opponents.