Example Mailings from Non-profits Voter Protection Center and Center for Voter Information from 2022 and other years
These groups sent 85.5 million mailings to voters in 32 states in 2022
Updated April 1, 2024.
Examples and information below are from these states:
Alaska
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Kansas
Kentucky
Michigan
Mississippi
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Virginia
Wisconsin
Notes:
Known mailings from VPC and CVI carry a union printer label.
Progressive Groups sometimes involved with mailings in certain states:
Legal Defense Fund
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Voter Participation Center
Georgia 2020
VPC, CVI, and Georgia NAACP Partner on Georgia Voter Campaign Ahead of Senate Runoffs, Nov. 2020.
In partnership with VPC and CVI, the Georgia NAACP will send about 1.8 million vote-by-mail mailings to eligible voters in Georgia. Over the coming weeks, VPC and CVI will send an additional 19.4 million mailings into the state, along with online voter registration outreach prior to the state’s December 7 deadline. The overall voter campaign in Georgia will include:
Direct mail to more than 2 million eligible voters in the state, encouraging early in-person voting once the early voting period begins on December 14.
Direct mail to 2.4 million voters who did or did not vote in the general election, encouraging early voting in late December and in-person on Election Day.
Direct mail to roughly 65,000 people encouraging voter registration by young people who turn 18 years old between January 1, 2020, and January 5, 2021.
Kansas 2022
Mississippi 2022
New York 2023
Rockland County Board of Elections warns against misinformation, News 12 Westchester, Sept 20, 2023.
North Carolina 2020
11,000 incorrect voter registration forms sent to potential NC voters, Carolina Public Press, Jordan Wilkie, Oct. 7, 2020.
…In June, another advocacy group sent out 80,000 invalid absentee-by-mail ballot requests to voters. While it is legal to send out pre-filled voter registration applications (except for party affiliation), it is illegal to send out a pre-filled absentee ballot application. That distinction was lost on the Center for Voter Information. …
Improperly filled-out mailers, along with bad information found online, can confuse voters. In the cases of Civitech and the Center for Voter Information, the errors appear to be a result of mistakes rather than maliciousness.
Progressive advocacy group wants you to vote, and they are not afraid to tell you, The 9th Street Journal, Rose Wong, Oct. 29, 2020.
Getting multiple mailers from the Center for Voter Information or Voter Participation Center?
You may be part of the “rising American electorate.”
That’s what the organizations’ founder Page Gardner calls young people, people of color and unmarried women. She targets them with voter registration and absentee ballot requests forms through the Washington D.C.-based Center for Voter Information. A connected organization Gardner also founded, the Voter Participation Center, gets after white progressives with similar mailings. …
CVI and VPC’s mailing efforts have drawn criticism from election officials, who said that the groups’ mailers confuse voters, especially because their letters look like they could come from the government. The mailers have also gone, by mistake, to people who are already registered or too young to vote, according to NPR. …
Gardner, who is currently living in Durham, N.C., is also the founder of Women’s Voice Women Vote, which she described as a “forerunner organization to VPC.” After identifying a gap in voter turnout between unmarried and married women, Gardner created the organization to target unmarried women as an electorate.
Pennsylvania 2022
Heads Up, Voters: VPC/CVI Mailings Are Not Affiliated with Bucks County Board of Elections, Buck County Government, Pennsylvania, April 21, 2022.
The Bucks County Board of Elections is notifying voters of coming mailings from the Voter Participation Center and Center for Voter Information (VPC/CVI), which have no connection to the county.
In previous years, mailings from the organizations have caused confusion among voters and resulted in a flood of phone calls and duplicate applications submitted to the county Board of Elections Office.
Virginia 2020-2021
In 2020 VPC and CVI caused confusion when pre-filled forms gave the return address of Fairfax City instead of Fairfax County.
More than 500,000 Virginia voters were mailed absentee applications with incorrect info, WJLA TV, Aug. 6, 2020.
Fairfax County Election Officials Warn Voters About Inaccurate Center for Voter Information Mailing, Fairfax County Government, Aug 6, 2020.
In 2021 VPC and CVI caused confusion when the absentee ballot applications with pre-filled forms were mailed to voters with the wrong return address. The Hampton election office had moved.
Absentee ballot applications sent to Hampton residents will still work, despite incorrect address for Registrar's Office, WVED TV, Aug. 27, 2021.
SEIU Throws Weight Behind Mail-In Voting, Washington Fee Beacon, Hayden Ludwig.
Center for Voter Information
Alaska 2023
Leftist voter mobilization group targets Alaskans with official looking mail, Alaska Watchman, Joel Davidson, Oct. 26, 2023.
In an effort to increase election turnout among Alaskans who typically lean left, a highly influential voter mobilization group is sending out personalized mailers that look like they could have come from the government.
The Center for Voter Information (CVI) is running a targeted voter outreach effort in Alaska, as it has in states across the nation. The organization has a particular focus on mobilizing unmarried women, young people and racial minorities, all groups that are historically known to disproportionately favor Democratic and more liberal candidates.
Colorado 2022
The Center for Voter Information: Funding of Colorado's Psychedelic Campaign, Presidential Elections, and The $10 Billion Sam Bankman-Fried Fraud Case, New Republican Colorado, Nov. 16, 2023.
Florida 2020 and 2022
'Just stop': Florida election supervisors lash out at DC-based voter advocacy group, Jeffrey Schweers, Tallahassee Democrat, June 16, 2020.
Alert about Issues with VPC / CVI Mailings in Florida
From Palm Beach, Florida Supervisor of Elections
Mass Mailing Alert: The Center for Voter Information and the Voter Participation Center mailings are not affiliated with our office. Please click here to learn more.
March 24, 2022
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office
Alerts Voters of a Mailing from The Voter Participation Center (VPC)/Center for Voter Information (CVI)
PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL – Wendy Sartory Link, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, is alerting voters of a mail campaign sent by The Voter Participation Center (VPC)/Center for Voter Information (CVI). This mass mailing to Palm Beach County residents includes potentially misleading information to registered voters and other residents.
The Voter Participation Center (VPC)/Center for Voter Information (CVI) is a third-party organization and is not affiliated in any way with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office, the state, or other local election officials.
Often, these mailing lists are created from data that is outdated or incorrect which results in voter registration applications being sent to registered voters, deceased persons, minor children, and even pets. This mailing may cause confusion or concern.
The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections is the official source for information related to voter registration and elections in Palm Beach County.
If you are a registered voter and receive one of these mailings, this does not mean that the status of your existing voter registration information has changed. You can verify your existing voter registration information anytime online at My Status (votepalmbeach.gov), or by calling our office at 561-656-6200.
See a similar “important message” from the Florida Supervisor of Elections in Indian River County in 2020.
Also in 2020, a VPC mailing with pre-printed voter registration from was mailed to a dog:
A voter registration application went to the late Mookie Aronson’s family. He was a poodle, South Florida SunSentinel, Sept. 21. 2020
Kansas 2018 and 2022
2018
2022
Non-profit money can be used in “educational” mailings as long the words “vote for” or “vote against” a candidate are never used.
Kentucky 2020
State officials warn of election scams; public asked to report incidents, Henderson Gleaner, Sept. 15, 2020.
Two alleged election scams have been targeting Kentuckians, Secretary of State Michael Adams and Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Tuesday. But an organization they claim participated in one of those "scams" accused the two Kentucky officials of spreading misinformation.
In a news release Tuesday, Adams and Cameron said registered Kentucky voters have been receiving letters from the Center for Voter Information — a national non-profit and non-partisan organization — encouraging them to register to vote (even though they already are).
The news release said this confuses people and that while the Center for Voter Information "purports to have a Frankfort address on its mailers," the address actually represents a mailbox at a UPS Store.
Michigan 2022
The CVI mailing is a “voter report card,” which is one way to use research by the Analyst Institute that suggests this will improve voter turnout.
In 2020 a Texas TV station did a story about a woman appalled by such a CVI mailing.
New Jersey 2021, 2022, 2023
You may receive a vote-by-mail application that you didn’t ask for and don’t want. Here’s why. NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, Sept 25, 2023.
See related Facebook posting by Action Together New Jersey: “we know there has been a lot of confusion and suspicion about these mailers.”
Tweet from ATNJ Education Fund in 2022
North Carolina 2002
Voting group recalls 80,000 unusable ballot applications in North Carolina, NBC News, Kevin Collier, June 10, 2020.
A voting advocacy group is recalling 80,000 North Carolina absentee ballot applications for having voters' names and addresses pre-printed on them.
The group, the Center for Voter Information, has sent millions of election mailers this year alone. The group said it was confused by a state law that requires every field of a ballot application be filled out by the voter. …
Last year, the state legislature passed a law that nullified an absentee ballot request if it "is completed, partially or in whole, or signed by anyone other than the voter.”
Ohio 2020
Ohioans getting random absentee ballot applications from 'Center for Voter Information', ABC 6 TV, Aug. 11, 2020.
Ohio voters question unsolicited absentee ballot forms received in the mail, WKYC TV, Oct. 27, 2020.
It turns out, the organization uses a Columbus mailing address, but is actually based in Washington, D.C. We caught up with the non-profit's CEO, Tom Lopach, via Zoom.
Pennsylvania 2022
Like a push poll in phone calls, this survey report was designed to favor John Fetterman for US Senate by finding differences that made Fetterman look “better” compared to responses by candidate Mehmet Oz.
“Push” responses may not be accurate or truthful in such surveys.
Virginia 2021
Wisconsin 2022
Third Party Absentee Ballot Request Form Mailing: Center for Voter Information, Wisconsin Elections Commission, April. 25, 2022.
Warnings from Election Officials
Alabama: Secretary of State Wes Allen Warns Alabamians of Misleading Election Mail, Mar. 26, 2024.
Secretary of State Wes Allen is warning Alabama citizens of a misleading, unsolicited mass mailing of pre-filled voter registration forms targeting Alabama mailboxes. The mailer is not affiliated with the State of Alabama and has, in fact, been officially discouraged by the Office of the Secretary of State.
Mississippi: Secretary of State issues advisory about voter registration forms from 3rd parties, Mar. 28, 2024.
Mississippi’s Secretary of State is issuing a warning about voter registration mailers coming from third parties.
Related
Did the Center for Voter Information Intervene Illegally in the 2020 Election?, Capital Research Center, Hayden Ludwig, Dec. 9, 2020.
A Nonprofit With Ties to Democrats Is Sending Out Millions of Ballot Applications. Election Officials Wish It Would Stop, Electionland from Propublica, Oct 23, 2020.
Liberal group sends masses of mail-in ballot applications to voters — many with errors, peeving election officials, Washington Examiner, Emily Brooks, Aug. 7, 2020.
A Big Vote Registration Push Reaches Millions — But Divides Elections Officials, NPR, Pam Fessler, Feb 13, 2020.
Op-ed: Why We’ll Never Stop Helping Eligible Americans Register and Vote, Center for Voter Information, March 22, 2023.
In the last four years, VPC and CVI have sent over 500 million pieces of mail and had nearly as many online interactions with eligible voters.
