» Abele “shaming” mailer:
A campaign mailer from Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele provides the names, addresses and voting records in the 2008 and 2012 general elections of the recipient and seven neighbors.
In the fight for his political life, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is sending out campaign mailers intended to drive up turnout by publicizing people’s voting records to their neighbors.
Not everybody is thrilled.
“We were incensed,” said John Glaspey, a Bay View resident who received both fliers. “They’re trying to shame you into voting.”
Added Gregory Rihn, who lives in Jackson Park: “This whole thing has a very creepy and ‘Big Brother is Watching’ feel.”
One of the mailers — dubbed “social pressure” brochures — says, “Who you vote for is a secret. Whether or not you vote is a matter of public record with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. Flip over (the card) to see how many times some of your neighbors voted in recent general elections.”
On the reverse side, the direct-mail piece gives the names, addresses and voting records in the 2008 and 2012 general elections for the recipient and seven neighbors.
The second mailer provides the recipient with a “voting attendance record” based on how often the individual went to the polls in recent elections, and compares it with the record for the neighborhood.
Both pieces say they were paid for by the Abele campaign. Abele is running for re-election against state Sen. Chris Larson. Larson narrowly edged Abele in the primary.
Tia Torhorst, spokeswoman for Abele, said what the campaign is doing is nothing new.
“Next Tuesday is an important election day with a lot at stake up and down the ballot,” Torhorst said. “We want to make sure as many people as possible participate. This is a campaign best practice utilized across the political spectrum that uses publicly available data.”
And it can be very controversial.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz got into some trouble with his socialpressure fliers because they accused certain recipients of “voting violations” based on how frequently they voted in the Iowa caucuses in the past. Plus, state officials denied that they graded voters based on their attendance record.
Abele’s mailers don’t accuse residents of violations but they do assign people grades — excellent, good and below average — for their voting records.
Reid Magney, spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, emphasized the voter ratings on the Abele mailer did not come from the state agency.
“State law requires GAB to sell information from the statewide voter list, including voting history (which elections people participated in),” Magney said by email. “So we do track which elections voters participate in, but we do not make any type of rating or grade.”
One of Abele’s primary critics suggested that the campaign strategy could backfire.
Marina Dimitrijevic, head of the Wisconsin Working Families Party and a county supervisor, noted that Abele is spending whatever he thinks he must to win on Tuesday. Records show he has already dumped $3.5 million into the race, compared with $210,000 for Larson.
“Rather than engage with citizens at a grass-roots level like Senator Larson is doing . . . the Abele campaign is threatening voters and making them feel uncomfortable,” she said this week.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.