About those "Vote by Mail" applications hitting statewide...

by: ActionJax

Fri Oct 22, 2010 at 10:53:35 AM EDT

These mailers claim that they are "vote by mail" applications. New York doesn't have voting by mail last time I checked. They also include no "paid for" information and no return address, only the address of the local county Board of Elections.

They have so far turned up in Long Island, Westchester, the Hudson Valley, Capitol Region, the Southern Tier, WNY and the North Country. They're showing up everywhere and I hear some local BoEs have even started to receive them with the propaganda still attached.

Both mailers have two things in common though. They both contain what appears to be legit absentee ballot applications and they are both loaded to the hilt with straight up electioneering.

Scans of both mailers below.

Then there's a straight ballot application. But check out the last page:

Note that there is nothing anywhere on this thing telling recipients who paid for it, no return address. Nothing but straight up propaganda.

If this isn't illegal, it probably should be.

Here's the RNC mailer. It also contains a straight up absentee app (or two) depending on how many voters are in the household.

Still electioneering, but at least they are upfront about where it came from. The RNC mailer is also being followed by robocalls reminding people to fill them out. Once again, to the RNC's credit, that call fully identifies who is paying for these efforts.

So here's my question. Is this legal? If so, why? Also, what exactly is the NY Senate GOP trying to achieve here? Are these applications legal if returned to local BoEs?

What's the dealio?