BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - Stanford University and Dartmouth College have paid nearly $13,600 to settle a Montana campaign practices complaint over postcards sent to voters in 2014.
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports (bit.ly/2naq9No) Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl signed the settlement agreement Tuesday, after receiving a check for nearly $6,800 from each school.
In 2015, Motl found the schools broke election laws by sending postcards to over 100,000 households in October 2014 comparing four Supreme Court candidates’ political views on an ideological scale from liberal to conservative. School officials have said the project sought to study whether additional information about candidates could affect voter turnout.
Then-Secretary of State Linda McCulloch complained the postcards included the state seal and the colleges did not disclose the experiment ahead of time.
The households that received postcards received letters of apology before the November 2014 election.
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Information from: Bozeman Daily Chronicle, https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com
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