Matthew Patane

mpatane@dmreg.com

HAMLIN, Ia. — Iowa’s Republican secretary of state called out Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz for misleading mailers the Cruz campaign sent to some Iowans last week.

Mailers labeled with the phrase “voting violation” were sent to some Iowa voters, according to a report from the Independent Journal. The mailers list a voting score for the recipients and some neighbors — they call the scores “public record” — and urge Iowans to caucus Monday to improve their scores.

A spokeswoman for the Cruz campaign confirmed Saturday that the mailers were sent by the campaign.

In a statement, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said he was shown one of the mailers and said the wording "misrepresents the role of my office, and worse, misrepresents Iowa election law.”

“Accusing citizens of Iowa of a ‘voting violation’ based on Iowa caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act,” Pate said. “There is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency of voting. Any insinuation or statement to the contrary is wrong, and I believe it is not in keeping in the spirit of the Iowa caucuses.”

Former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz, who is serving as chairman of Cruz's Iowa campaign, said the Cruz mailers are similar to ones sent by the Republican Party of Iowa in previous elections.

"These mailers are common practice to increase voter turnout," Schultz said in a statement. "Our mailer was modeled after the very successful 2014 mailers that the Republican Party of Iowa distributed to motivate Republican voters to vote, and which helped elect numerous Republican candidates during that cycle.”

Cruz, who has often joked that mailers "make good kindling," later told reporters that he would not apologize for his campaign's efforts to bring out caucusgoers.

"I will apologize to nobody for using every tool we can to encourage Iowa voters to come out and vote … Iowa, as first in the nation, has an incredibly important role in deciding who the next commander-in-chief of this country will be. We are going to continue to use every tool we can to encourage the men and woman of Iowa to come out, to caucus on Monday night and to stand together as one," Cruz said in Sioux City.

Pate's criticism came as Cruz made five campaign stops in Iowa on Saturday.