{"id":209407,"date":"2016-11-03T20:41:23","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T02:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=209407"},"modified":"2016-11-04T10:21:15","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T16:21:15","slug":"dem-mailer-reminds-people-that-whether-they-vote-is-public-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/11\/dem-mailer-reminds-people-that-whether-they-vote-is-public-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Dem mailer reminds people that whether they vote is public record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t
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The back of the Democratic Party mailer.<\/p><\/div>

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The front of the Democratic Party mailer.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Democrats were quick to criticize the state GOP last month when it sent a controversial mailer telling people their neighbors would know if they didn’t vote.<\/p>\n

Felicia Salazar, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, was quoted<\/a> at the time as calling the GOP tactic “aggressive intimidation toward voters.”<\/p>\n

“New Mexicans deserve better,” Salazar said.<\/p>\n

This week, though, the state Democratic Party communicated\u00a0a similar message in a mailer sent to people\u00a0who haven’t yet voted.<\/p>\n

“Remember, who you vote for is private, but whether or not you vote or return your ballot is a matter of public record,” the Democrats’ mailer states. “Your friends and neighbors are counting on you to voice your opinion.”<\/p>\n

The GOP mailer is certainly\u00a0more explicit. A photo of a woman peeking through blinds is accompanied by the words, “When Democrats win the election and you didn\u2019t do your part to stop it\u2026 Your neighbors will know.”<\/p>\n

On the other side, the mailer urges people\u00a0to vote and states, “After all, voting is a matter of public record. Your neighbors need you to apply to vote by mail today!”<\/p>\n

The Democrats’ mailer, on the front, states, “Important election notice.” On the back, it states, “Our records indicate that you have not yet voted. It is important that you do so right away.” Then it includes the sentences\u00a0about whether a person has voted being public record and friends and neighbors “counting on you.”<\/p>\n

State Democratic Party Executive Director Joe Kabourek said there’s “no comparison” between the two mailers.<\/p>\n

“The NMGOP mail piece is invasive and creepy. It suggests consequences and even includes ominous imagery of someone peeping through the blinds,” Kabourek said. “NMGOP even blames election outcomes on the recipient, placing fault on the voter rather than the weakness of their candidates.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Democratic mailer, he said, takes a “positive tone.”<\/p>\n

“Our focus is on reminding voters to cast their ballots without using Republican scare tactics,” Kabourek said. “We even made sure to emphasize that who a voter votes for is private.”<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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The back of the Republican Party mailer.<\/p><\/div>

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The front of the Republican Party mailer.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

It’s true that there\u00a0are\u00a0“qualitative differences” between the mailers, said University of New Mexico political science professor Lonna Atkeson. She said\u00a0the woman peeking through blinds\u00a0makes the GOP mailer\u00a0“a little more gut-wrenching.”<\/p>\n

But both mailers use a tactic that concerns Atkeson.<\/p>\n

“It seems that you’re trying to shame people into voting,” she\u00a0said. “You should give people positive reasons to vote for a candidate.”<\/p>\n

Some\u00a0political science experiments show that shaming people\u00a0into voting\u00a0works, but Atkeson said\u00a0the political parties need to think about the possible negative\u00a0consequences.<\/p>\n

“We don’t know what the outcome is, other than that they vote,” she said, adding that such a mailer could\u00a0motivate someone “to go vote a protest ballot” or no longer\u00a0like the party\u00a0with which they’re registered.<\/p>\n

Voting was largely\u00a0a public act<\/a>\u00a0in the United States until the late 19th Century, and often included a\u00a0public declaration of which candidate a person\u00a0supported. The shift toward a secret ballot coincided with a dramatic drop in voter turnout<\/a>. That’s thought by some to be due to the same conclusions of the recent studies Atkeson mentioned — some people voted because their neighbors would know if they didn’t. Shame.<\/p>\n

Today, such a tactic\u00a0might get people out to vote. It might also do long-term damage to the party or candidate who is shaming people into voting, Atkeson worries.<\/p>\n

“You’ve really got to think about how you’re affecting that brand when you’re advertising,” Atkeson said. “You don’t want to be associated with making people feel icky, making people feel shame.”<\/p>\n

Atkeson was similarly critical when the GOP sent out its mailer last month, calling it “pathetic.” The Albuquerque Journal quoted her<\/a> as asking, “Don’t they have any positive messages?”<\/p>\n

That Republican mailer gained national attention and criticism. The news website The Daily Beast, which first reported on the GOP mailer<\/a>, quoted\u00a0Anthony Tennent of Albuquerque as saying he “wouldn’t vote Republican after seeing that mailer.”<\/p>\n

Dusty Dean of Roswell, who also received the GOP mailer, was quoted by New Mexico In Depth<\/a> as saying he found it\u00a0to be threatening. But he said it didn’t affect his plans to vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats were quick to criticize the state GOP last month when it sent a controversial mailer telling people their neighbors would know if they didn’t vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[708,135],"class_list":["post-209407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-election","tag-democratic-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}