Well what do you know:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant attacked Americans for Prosperity, a conservative nonprofit backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch, on Tuesday for distributing “misleading” and “confusing” voter registration mailings, according to the Associated Press.
The leaflets, sent out to at least eight different counties, warned residents that if they did not update their voter registration before April 22, they could become ineligible to vote in the upcoming May 13 election. The mailer also included a voter registration card and prepaid envelope.
Tennant, who is running for U.S. Senate, warned residents on Tuesday to discard the mailers, clarifying that residents need to update their registration only under three conditions:
If you have not moved, changed your name, or switched political parties, then you should throw this mailer into the trash because your voter registration is still valid. ... We were made aware of this situation because there was a large number of confused citizens calling our office and the offices of county clerks asking questions about why they had to update their voter registration information. The secretary of state’s office did not send this mailer, and it did not come from county clerks. We don’t know what the purpose of the mailer is but we do know that it is confusing citizens. - Huffington Post, 4/23/14
Here's a little more info:
http://www.wvgazette.com/...
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation, based in Arlington, Va., started its West Virginia branch this year, and has been funding television ads attacking Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va. The group is funded partly by brothers Charles and David Koch, who have donated millions of dollars to groups that oppose Democratic candidates.
Tennant, a Democrat who is running for U.S. Senate, said county clerks are the only election officials that would legitimately contact voters about their registration information and stressed that a “legitimate contact” would never come from third-party organizations such as Americans for Prosperity.
“The Secretary of State’s Office did not send this mailer, and it did not come from county clerks. We don’t know what the purpose of the mailer is, but we do know that it is confusing citizens,” Tennant said.
Berkeley County Chief Deputy Clerk Bonnie Woodall, who handles voter registration in the county, said residents there were confused by the mailing.
“We had gotten seven calls, and had people coming to our office, who were very confused and duped,” said Woodall. “These leaflets were put out by Americans for Prosperity. They specialized leaflets for each county, which gave people the feeling they would not be able to vote if they did not fill these forms out and get them back to us by today.
“One lady just got home from work and saw it in her mailbox. She was a little frantic. I told her to throw it into the garbage,” Woodall said. - The Charleston Gazette, 4/22/14
Guess the Kochs are so nervous that their trying to dupe voters in states like West Virginia that should be easy pick ups for the GOP. Then again, Tennant has been hitting back at her likely opponent, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R. WV), pretty hard on this:
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/...
Skyrocketing flood insurance rates have left West Virginia families fearful of losing their homes.
West Virginians deserve to know that Congresswoman Capito wrote the law that is causing premiums to skyrocket. As one of only five original co-sponsors, Congresswoman Capito had more input than almost any other member of Congress. She stood on the House floor and urged other members of Congress to pass it, even though it hurt West Virginia families.
Congresswoman Capito has voted to turn Medicare into a voucher program, supported privatizing Social Security, cut veterans benefits and voted to let Wall Street banks continue handing out huge bonuses to CEOs, even as taxpayers were bailing them out.
Every time I'm faced with a tough decision, I ask myself: could I go back and explain what I did to my dad and my brothers on the farm. If I can't, it's not the right thing to do. I call it my Farm Test, and it's my conscience and my compass.
Hiking up flood insurance for West Virginia homeowners and siding with Wall Street over working families, seniors and veterans doesn't pass that test. It's not who we are as West Virginians. - Natalie Tennant (D. WV), The Herald-Dispatch, 4/23/14
I'm waiting to see what happens in this race but I'm not ready to write it off. If you want to get involved and donate to Tennant's campaign, you can do so here:
http://natalietennant.com/