In Arizona, a surprise battleground state, the Republicans are throwing every thing they have at the voters. A classic deep red state, if AZ goes blue it could signal a national change. This week voters were either encouraged, or outraged by the mailing of "voter report cards". These cards showed a person's past voting history, the frequency of their voting, and the voting records of their closest neighbors. Some people were given an F grade and others an A. Some people were livid about this, calling it an invasion of privacy. This is not only a Republican trick though, Democrats also utilized this technique, but instead of grades, they gave out various levels of gold stars. While the grade has no actual effect, the social connotations of knowing which neighbors are involved and which ones are not has the potential to increase turnout. This type of social peer pressure could also have negative backlash. A person who received a mailer from the state Republican Party said she is leaving the party due to the "intimidation" from the mailer. Another person, who was called and texted by a supposedly non-partisan group was then harassed by a volunteer of that organization for voting for Trump. The volunteer involved called her names and eventually sent a text message with the words," Trump is going down!" A spokesman for the organization said the volunteer acted correctly, except for the text message. A spokesman for the Republican party said the mailers were effective in increasing turnout in previous elections and that they expect to see the same results here. As the final week draws near, all candidates and parties are grasping at straws.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/10/27/arizona-republican-voter-report-card-mailer/92840150/
Joe Engels
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