Who is the Center for Voter Information?
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT ENCLOSED. DO NOT DISCARD.
As the midterm elections draw closer, your mailbox is probably getting bombarded with political junk mail like mine. While I’m just as likely as anybody else to to throw this crap in the trash, one piece of election junk mail caught my eye. It was from the Center for Voter Information and it had the following ominous message stamped in bold, ALL CAPS, “GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT ENCLOSED. DO NOT DISCARD.” Hmmm. Is there really a government document in that envelope and why would I be receiving a government document from what sounds like a non-profit organization? I was intrigued so I decided to open it, rather than throw it away.
Inside were two sheets of paper and an envelope. The first sheet of paper was a letter from the Center for Voter Information with a report that “provides you with a helpful summary of how often you vote and how your voting compares with others in your state.” Then there’s a little graph that shows my “voting score” is “BELOW AVERAGE”. Mom isn’t around anymore but, gosh golly, I can count on The Center for Voting Information to try and make me feel inferior through biased comparisons between me and my fellow state residents. Will they do some laundry for me if I come to visit this weekend, too?
But the letter goes on to say that I can improve my voting score the “easy way”. They’ve taken the liberty to fill out an absentee ballot for me. That’s the other piece of paper and the “government document” that I’m not supposed to discard. Heck, they’ve even included an envelope addressed to my county board of registrars and paid for the postage. How thoughtful! Who are these people willing to fill out absentee ballots on my behalf and pay for the stamp to mail it in? Let’s find out.
The Center for Voter Information and the Voter Participation Center
The letter was signed (mass printed, of course) by a “Lionel Dripps”. No website or other contact information was provided in the paperwork, except for the return address shown in the image above, which is in my voting district. If you do a search for the return address it comes up as a UPS Store. You know, one of those places where you can rent a mailbox. So much for The Center for Voter Information being a local outfit. A search for “The Center for Voter Information” does bring you to a website, centerforvoterinformation.org.
You can check out the site for yourself, but I found it kind of sparse for a non-profit organization. When you get to the About Us page its also unusually sparse, but does specify that “The Center for Voter Information is a non-partisan organization that works to provide even-handed and unbiased information about candidates and their positions on issues.” But I found no information about any candidates, or even links to any such information. Also kind of odd.
One thing I did notice is the website uses a purple background. That’s a color that the Democrats have quietly adopted since the 2016 election. I don’t know what symbolic significance it has, but Hillary and Bill Clinton were sporting purple frequently and so have other Democratic candidates since. If anybody has any ideas about the significance of purple, please tweet me. Then there’s the link near the top of the website labeled “StoryMap by DemLabs LLC”. Non-partisan? Unbiased?
A Lobbying Front for The Voter Participation Center?
Digging a little deeper, the mailing with the pre-filled absentee ballot specifies that the Center for Voter Information is a 501(c)(4) organization. 501(c)(3) is your typical non-profit organization. 501(c)(4) is also a non-profit, but is a federal income tax classification that allows for political lobbying efforts. A 501(c)(3) can lose its tax-exempt status if it is found to engage in more than a little lobbying activity. Opposite the DemLabs link at the top of the Center for Voter Information website is a link to The Voter Participation Center, www.voterparticipation.org, which is a 501(c)(3) organization.
The mission statement for the Voter Participation Center states “The Voter Participation Center’s mission is to increase civic engagement among the Rising American Electorate: unmarried women, people of color, and millennials.” Something the Center for Voter Information also says on its website. But why have the two organizations? The Center for Voter Information feels like a front or shell organization for The Voter Participation Center. But for what purpose?
The Voter Participation Center’s mission is to increase civic engagement among the Rising American Electorate: unmarried women, people of color, and millennials.
Finally, a search for Lionel Dripps, the person who’s signature appears at the bottom of the mailing, returns his LinkedIn profile. He lists himself as “Political Consultant” who is currently serving as “Managing Director for Program and Digital” at The Voter Participation Center. According to Mr. Dripps LinkedIn profile, he has also previously served as Executive Director of the Democratic Senate Campaign Fund and Regional Director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. It doesn’t say anything about him ever having worked for The Center for Voter Information.
The Takeaway
I’m no political consultant, but I’m pretty sure the target population in that mission statement above is also highly likely to vote Democrat. But this isn’t about Democrat or Republican (or Green, Libertarian, etc.). I volunteered as a poll watcher in the 2004 election and witnessed, with my own eyes, some very dirty tactics that were obviously targeted at keeping Democratic voters from turning out in that election. Tactics that had to involve an investment in capital and people.
But I call it as I see it and the mailing that I, and who knows how many other people, received, as well as these two organizations behind the mailing, are using misleading tactics by claiming to be neutral and nonpartisan. They clearly exist to turn out the vote for Democrats, but, as this analysis demonstrates, they have chosen manipulation over persuasion to achieve their aims. Are their aims really in line with those who they are trying to turn out to vote?
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I think your article is informative. You did, however, go to far in saying it is manipulative. I see nothing manipulative in what you said nor the paperwork I received in the mail. Voters receiving this paperwork are still free to vote however thy wish.