A dark-money group is sending Pa. voters mail ballot applications as Trump keeps attacking mail voting

For all the trash President Donald Trump talks about voting by mail, he and his political allies sure want you to mail in your ballot for the election nine weeks from now.

A new dark-money group, Common Sense Voters of America LLC, last week sent Pennsylvania voters two unsolicited applications for mail ballots in “election guide” mailers also stuffed with language that makes clear the group favors Trump over former Vice President Joe Biden.

Who did this? Who paid for it? How many mail ballot applications were sent? Were they sent to voters in other states? These are some of Clout’s questions the group refused to answer.

“I’m not authorized by my client to comment,” said Chris Finney, a Cincinnati lawyer active in Republican and conservative politics who registered the group as a nonprofit in Ohio on June 29.

The mailers list a Pennsylvania Avenue address in Washington, D.C., that tracks back to a company offering “virtual office” space for tenants to show a “powerful presence” near the White House.

Trump, who votes by mail in Florida, last week railed on Twitter again about unsolicited mail ballot applications sent to voters. His central claim, which is false, is that mail ballots lead to widespread election fraud.

The mailers don’t explicitly tell voters who to support for president. But they do ask: “Are these your Pennsylvania values,” with a photograph manipulated to look like Biden holding up news headlines saying he “supports Sanctuary Cities,” federal funding for abortions and “LGBTQ rights.”

» READ MORE: Everything you need to know about voting in Pennsylvania, by mail or in person

As Clout told you in May, Trump’s reelection campaign, along with the Republican National Committee and the Pennsylvania Republican Party, have all urged voters to use mail ballots.

A Pew Research Center national poll in mid-August found a majority of Trump voters (80%) want to vote in person on Election Day, while a majority of Biden voters (58%) want to vote by mail.