Dartmouth College and Stanford University researchers who sent election information mailers to voters in Montana, California and New Hampshire may have broken election laws in at least one of those states.
The election mailers placed candidates on a spectrum from ‘more liberal’ to ‘more conservative,’ and were titled “2014 Voter Information Guide.” Dartmouth spokesperson Justin Anderson says were designed by political science researchers whose work “seeks to determine whether individuals provided with more information about candidates are more likely to vote.”
Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch says the Montana mailers violate three state campaign laws, in part because the Montana mailer included a reproduction of the state seal.
The New Hampshire mailer did not contain a state seal.
Dartmouth’s Justin Anderson says the college will cooperate with Montana's Secretary of State, and has begun their own internal review.