Earlier this week, we reported that Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Center for Voter Information/Voter Participation Center, ordering it to stop sending intimidating letters to Maryland voters threatening to disclose their voting status to neighbors, which violates state and federal laws. On Friday, the Attorney General’s Office received assurances from the CVI/VPC that it will cease all mailings referencing voter participation and will not publicize any voter-specific data.
Per the Maryland Attorney General’s Office: “Today, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) received a response from the Center for Voter Information/Voter Participation Center (CVI/VPC) to a cease-and-desist letter that the OAG issued on October 31, 2024. The letter ordered the organization to immediately stop sending letters to Maryland voters, stating that voters’ records would be reviewed after the election to determine whether they had joined their neighbors in voting.
The CVI/VPC has assured the OAG that it will not publicize information that identifies particular voters and their voting histories, including a voter’s participation in the 2024 Presidential election. The organization also indicated that it has no plans for any further mailings in Maryland. However, it did inform the OAG that some letters may still be in the mail stream and could arrive in mailboxes in the coming days, as they were sent prior to the cease-and-desist letter. Additionally, the organization clarified a footnote in the letter by confirming it did not send any text messages to voters’ phones.
The OAG and the State Board of Elections (SBE) had received several complaints about the CVI/VPC’s “Voting Report Cards,” which identified whether recipients had voted in each of the last four elections and compared recipients’ voting histories with those of two neighbors living on the same street. In their response, the CVI/VPC stated that it is not planning to publicize information post-election, as this is not something the organization has done in the past or will do in the future.
The OAG is satisfied that the organization will not improperly contact voters following this election regarding their own or their neighbors’ voting records, and the OAG has no plans to take any further legal action. The Office of the Attorney General wants to assure Maryland voters that the decision to vote is each individual’s choice. Maryland voters should feel free to make that choice on their own, without undue influence.
For more information, visit www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov. Marylanders with concerns about voter intimidation should contact either the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division or the Maryland State Board of Elections. You can reach the Civil Rights Division by email at [email protected] or online using this form. The State Board of Elections can be reached by phone at 410-269-2840 or by email at [email protected].”