Rand Paul took a jab at fellow Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Monday, calling him out for sending Iowa caucus voters a “shady mail piece.”
The letters, which say “ELECTION ALERT: VOTER VIOLATION,” appear to be from a government agency. It says “Public Record” and lists your neighbors and their voting turnout record, then warns potential voters that their voting history could be made public too.
“CAUCUS ON MONDAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE,” it warns. “A follow-up notice may be issued following Monday’s caucuses.”
To criticize Cruz for the tactic, Paul on Monday posted his own version of the “Voter Violation” document on Twitter.
It shows Cruz’s 2015 record on casting votes in the U.S. Senate: 76%, which comes out to a “C-” grade.
The Cruz campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment,
“Hear about Ted Cruz’s shady mail piece? Iowa, we need a President who will show up for the job,” Paul tweeted.
Paul added Sen. Marco Rubio to the list, too, and gave him a “D-” grade for showing up to only 65% of Senate votes. Paul gave himself an “A” for showing up 94% of the time.
Several people have criticized Cruz for trying to coerce voters with this letter, including Iowa’s own secretary of state, a Republican.
The letter “misrepresents the role of my office, and worse, misrepresents Iowa election law,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement.
While in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday night, Cruz responded to the criticism with this: “I will apologize to no one for using every tool we can to encourage Iowa voters to come out and vote.”
