Fake mailer warns of $500 fine for displaying O'Rourke signs

A civil rights group is investigating reports of a fake mailer circulating in College Station that warns of a $500 fine for displaying signs supporting U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke.

The letter, recently obtained by the Texas Civil Rights Project, features a “CITATION WARNING,” “quick facts about” O’Rourke and a ”‘BETO’ REALITY CHECK” that includes the comments “NOT HISPANIC,” “FELONY ARREST RECORD,” “INSIDER TRADING VIOLATIONS,” “FATHER’S DRUG SCANDAL” and “FAMILY BUSINESS FEDERALLY PROSECUTED,” according to images of the letter the organization shared on social media Tuesday. The letter appears to end with “These issues have not been effectively reported to Texas voters.”

The envelope for the letter had a fake Austin return address, the organization’s voting rights legal director, Beth Stevens, told the American-Statesman. It appears the letter was processed and sent through a post office in North Houston, she said.

“It’s absolutely a voter suppression tactic,” Stevens told the Statesman Tuesday.

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20181002/fake-mailer-warns-of-500-fine-for-displaying-orourke-signs