Warning Issued After RNC Sends 'Imitation Census' Mailers to Boost Trump Re-Election in Montana

A mailer circulating in Montana labeled "2019 congressional district census" notifies voters "you have been selected to represent voters in Bozeman, Montana," with an enclosed letter that reads, "President Trump has requested that a Census of every Congressional district be conducted immediately." But the form, one of many sent to residents in at least four counties across the state, is not for the official U.S. census. In 2010, Congress took steps to hinder this practice, which Noti says has been around for decades, by passing a law that year, the Prevent Deceptive Census Look Alike Mailings Act, to bar nongovernmental entity mailings from being labeled "census" on an envelope, outside cover, or wrapper. But Adav Noti of CLC asserts that the laws need to go farther to prevent political parties and campaigns from impersonating federal forms.

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