GOP Voters Guide Mailing Spurs Uproar

A voters guide mailed by nearly a dozen Republican candidates to nearly all Charles County residents days before the election continued to spark controversy this week as the Maryland Democratic Party called on state authorities to investigate the legality of the mass mailing.

The guide confused many residents because it resembled the sample ballot that the county election board sends to registered voters, but it had large check marks next to most Republican candidates' names, which were printed in bold type.

The Maryland Democratic Party asked state prosecutor Robert A. Rohrbaugh and U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein to investigate whether the guide -- which includes a government logo that says "Official Election Mail, Authorized by the U.S. Postal Service" -- is a violation of federal law.

The document, "Charles County Voters Guide," also lists the telephone numbers and Web addresses for the state and local boards of election, which led many residents to believe the guide was an official government notice. The Charles Board of Elections was so inundated with calls from confused residents that it filed a complaint with the Maryland Board of Elections.

Kurt W. Wolfgang , the Republican candidate for District 2 commissioner, claimed to be the chief organizer of the mailing and defended its legality. "It's a good thing to put out," Wolfgang said when first contacted about the guide Friday.

Wolfgang did not return repeated calls seeking comment this week.

Terry Lierman , chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said the guide is a "betrayal of public trust." In his letter to state authorities on Sunday, Lierman called the guide "a blatant attempt to disguise a political mail piece as an official government document" to boost Republican candidates, including Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele .

"Nobody is this ignorant. There is a clear intent to fool voters into thinking the official government ballot is telling them to vote Ehrlich, Steele and the rest of the GOP ticket," Lierman said in a statement. "Republicans who claim they can be trusted to make and uphold our laws shouldn't be breaking them to get into office."

Some Republicans whose campaigns helped pay for the guide's printing and distribution tried to distance themselves from the mailing, which angered and confused many voters over the weekend.

Commissioner Candice Quinn Kelly (R-La Plata), who ran for reelection, said her campaign did not proof the mailing before it was printed. She said her campaign was led to believe the guide would come from the Charles Republican Central Committee and would be marked as such.

"We didn't see it, we didn't proof it, we didn't approve it," Kelly said. "We played no role in putting this thing together, and we'll have to wait and see what the outcome is. . . . What a shame. What a mess."

Kelly said the confusion it caused for voters was "very regrettable." She said she was "caught off guard" when she read news reports last weekend about the guide.