A False Win?

At the nail-biting Iowa caucuses held on February 1st, the first caucus of the presidential nomination bid, was thought to be a huge upset. All the polls, days before and even months before, pointed to Donald Trump winning. However, it turned out that Ted Cruz won by a significant margin. Many wondered how this was possible since the polls seemingly pointed toward Trump being the front-runner. There are a number of possibilities and reasons for this. As I listened to CNN over the hours and now days I heard many explanations. One of the explanations was that Cruz, shortly before the votes were cast, claimed that Dr. Ben Carson was suspending his campaign, which swung votes to Cruz. Another explanation was that Rubio had surged and stole some of Trump's votes. In all, the explanation, and most recent one, that CNN is talking about, as well as Trump and the secretary of state of Iowa, is the one that interests me most: Voter violation.

The secretary of state of Iowa claims, first of all, that this doesn't exist. Second, what this is is where voters were sent a letter in the mail with several large warnings across it with on the back in large red type "Voter Violation". The letter continued claiming "You are receiving this election notice because of low expected voter turnout in your area. Your individual voting history as well as your neighbors' are public record. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well. CAUCUS ON MONDAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE and please encourage your neighbors to caucus as well. A follow-up notice may be issued following Monday's caucuses.” 

Pictured above is the exact piece of mail that was sent to a variety of Iowan registered voters

Essentially this caught my attention because not only is it a threat but it is a definite violation of the first amendment. People, under the first amendment, have the right to speak but they also have the freedom not to speak. This is a direct contradiction of that as it is forcing people against their will (in a mental sort of way/out of fear) to go out and say who they want for president. After the caucus this idea gained traction and gave fury to some and the secretary of state claimed that it is very false that voters are given a rating and also that their participation is counted. Overall, this is something that is known as fraud as well as a first amendment case that shows how even the first amendment can shape an election in many unexpected ways. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/30/politics/ted-cruz-mailer-iowa-caucuses-voter-violation/