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Stanford University Apologizes To Montana For An Official-Looking Voter Guide Mailed Out By Research Team

STANFORD (KCBS) — Stanford University apologized on Tuesday for a controversial political mailer it sent out to voters in several states that may have violated state election laws.

Stanford University Apologizes To Montana For An Official-Looking Voter Guide Mailed Out By Research Team

The official-looking campaign mailers were sent out to about 100,000 voters in Montana placed candidates for nonpartisan offices on a partisan ideological scale by comparing them to President Barack Obama and former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Similar mailers were sent to voters in districts of California and in New Hampshire.

The documents are emblazoned with the official state seal and Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said they are "deceitful" and appear to violate several state laws.

"I want you to note that it says down at the bottom in really big letters: take this to the polls," McCulloch, who filed a complaint last week, said.

Stanford has apologized for the mailers claiming that they were part of an academic study with Dartmouth College that were designed to determine if people would be more likely to vote in nonpartisan races if they had more information about candidates.

In fine print, the mailers disclose they are part of a "joint research project" at the universities.

Stanford University spokeswoman Lisa Lapin told the San Jose Mercury news that an investigation was underway to determine why the mailers were made to look like official state documents.

The researchers for the study are affiliated with the nonpartisan political science study Database on Ideology, Money in Politics, and Elections—and sent similar mailers to 143,000 voters in California and 66,000 in New Hampshire.

Jonathan Motl, Montana's commissioner of voting practices, said that many voters are outraged.

"There's a lot of Montanans who don't understand why this sort of a document was interjected late into a hotly contested campaign," he said.

According to a Stanford spokeswoman, there are plans to send a message to California voters as well, along with newspaper advertisements in the two congressional districts that received the mailers.

The California Secretary of State's Office, meanwhile, has also initiated an investigation.

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