Washington, DC  (February 17, 2012) —Aristotle International, a leading nonpartisan political technology and data provider, announced today that it will be supplying reapportionment data to the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), an organization within the Department of Defense. FVAP was formed to assist uniformed service members, their families and overseas civilians to vote absentee.

FVAP assists military and overseas voters with the absentee ballot application process, registering to vote and obtaining ballots from anywhere in the world. Aristotle will provide FVAP with the data that ensures each voter is directed to the correct congressional district, which is determined by the results of the 2010 census and information on file with the Secretary of State or State Board of Elections. Many states’ voter files do not yet reflect the new redistricting lines, the updating of which is an expertise Aristotle has pioneered over the years. Aristotle also provides data hygiene routines to standardize voter rolls, identify those who have died or moved for its non-governmental clients.

The official results from the census show that eight states have gained congressional seats and 10 states have lost seats. The other states may not have gained or lost a seat, but the congressional district lines changed. Aristotle will help FVAP get this updated information to citizens living abroad quickly and accurately.

“I am thrilled to assist in providing our service men and women, and their families all over the world, with a seamless and accurate voting process,” said Aristotle CEO John Aristotle Phillips. “Our mission at Aristotle has always been to provide a broad range of information, technology and services on a non-partisan basis, to facilitate the democratic process.

“This is an important innovation in the voting process and I am pleased to be a part of what we see as incremental advances towards what may someday be Internet voting for U.S. citizens and voting by expats living in the US, in their own elections back home. Aristotle has some of the expertise and data that would be invaluable in re-inventing the process of voting for citizens everywhere.”

FVAP administers the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which allows certain U.S. citizens to register and vote absentee in elections for federal office. These groups include: members of the military; eligible family of the military; Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service, and Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; U.S. citizens employed by the federal government residing outside the U.S.; and all other private U.S. citizens residing outside the U.S.

The FVAP administers the federal responsibilities of the National Voter Registration Act, which designates armed forces recruiting offices nationwide as voter registration agencies allowing eligible U.S. citizens to apply for voter registration, or apply to change voter registration data.

Washington, DC  (February 8, 2012) — The Obama campaign announced Monday that it will be returning more than $200,000 in contributions raised by family members of fugitive Pepe Cardona, who fled drug and fraud charges in the ‘90s. With the 2012 election season at full throttle and millions of dollars pouring into campaigns, campaign treasurers have seen their responsibilities expand beyond simply complying with strict disclosure rules imposed by the Federal Election Commission.

Aristotle International, a leading nonpartisan political data and compliance technology provider has the tools that ensure these campaigns are not unknowingly taking money from felons, illegal aliens, or other individuals on numerous anti-money laundering or terrorist watch lists.

Aristotle’s patent-pending data mining technology employs powerful software and algorithms, numerous ‘bad actor’ databases, and a highly accurate nationwide voter file to enable political committees and their treasurers to comply with complex state and federal campaign disclosure reporting requirements.

“When I was a candidate for Congress, my staff would never allow anyone to hand me an envelope for fear that it might be money from someone we didn’t want to be associated with,” Aristotle CEO John Aristotle Phillips said. “Today, the rules are much tougher. Smart campaigns need to vet each and every donation coming at an event, in the mail or online. It’s not just a matter of checking for convicted sex offenders or felons. There are doctors who are Medicaid cheats, lawyers who have been disbarred and government contractors who have been convicted of tax evasion or worse. Take a contribution from one of these guys and the least of your problems is having to return the contribution.”

“With the ability today to instantaneously scrub every contribution and every contributor at the time the contribution is made, and before you deposit their money, there is no good reason to take money from bad guys.”

Aristotle’s service was used by both presidential nominees in 2008, national news organizations covering money and politics, and party committees.

“Campaigns have ten days to decline a contribution and return the amount, without having to report it to the FEC,” former FEC Chairman and Aristotle Senior Vice President of Compliance Services David Mason said. “The Aristotle system safeguards campaigns against embarrassing stories that could potentially derail a highly visible campaign.”

The Cardona scandal comes only weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision upholding the ban on political contributions to candidates for public office and political organizations by foreign nationals. (Bluman v. FEC.)  The decision means that foreign nationals, other than lawful permanent residents, are completely banned from donating to candidates or parties, or making independent expenditures in federal, state or local elections. Aristotle’s technology vets donors against the company’s nationwide registered voter list and other files to confirm  the donor is a U.S. citizen and has not exceed the personal contribution limits.  Campaign treasurers utilizing Aristotle are provided real time information that enables them to flag suspect contributions, contact the donor and, if necessary, return or reject the contribution as required by the Federal Election Commission.

Aristotle’s platform incorporates detailed state contributor and voter lists with highly accurate consumer databases to illuminate exactly how much a donor has given, how much they can give, and to suggest the maximum they might agree to contribute where allowed by law. This can significantly aid the campaign in satisfying ‘best efforts’ provisions that are required of all federal political committee treasurers.[1]

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About Aristotle

Aristotle has delivered smarter tools to political campaigns since 1983. Every U.S. President — Democrat and Republican — from Reagan through Obama, has used Aristotle products and/or services, as have many U.S. Senators, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic and Republican state party organizations and other major campaigns worldwide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16467412

Media Contact: Brandi Travis, (202) 903-4221

Emails to Legislators from SuperVoters and FatCats Grab Attention
Aristotle previews ‘game-changing technology’ for separating grass tops from Astroturf

Miami, FL (February 3, 2012) — At the National Grassroots Conference in Miami this week, non-partisan political technology powerhouse Aristotle International unveiled what many representatives of the nation’s most effective advocacy groups are heralding as a powerful new weapon  for influencing legislative battles on Capitol Hill.

The software, called VerifiedVoter™, stamps an electronic watermark on emails being sent to Hill offices designating that the author of the email is a real, live registered voter rather than a computer-generated form letter. The system also flags emails coming from a ‘SuperVoter’ (one who votes in primaries) and a ‘Fat Cat’ (one who has a history of donating to political causes). The new data-mining tool relies on advanced algorithms that mine the Aristotle’s highly accurate lists of 187 million registered voters and 4.4 million political contributors.

The objective: to maximize the impact of emails coming from constituents with clout.  

Until now, organizations with a political interest have been sending their supporters, members or employees to government affairs websites where they are prompted to sign a petition or submit a form letter that is then sent to the congressional offices. Studies have shown that the deluge of emails from campaigns that generated thousands of identical comments on an issue have had diminishing impact. Offices are swamped with hundreds or sometimes thousands of emails on both sides of many topics. Legislative staffers sifting thru the mountains of often identical correspondence have taken to calling such campaigns ‘Astroturf’ as opposed to more genuine ‘grassroots’ expressions of support or opposition. The result has been that the impact of such emails is now widely discounted by those on the receiving end.

Elected officials are attuned to paying attention to what their constituents have to say, especially those who regularly vote and/or contribute to their re-election. With limited budgets and bandwidth, they are eager to focus their attention on responding to actual constituents.

With VerifiedVoter, grassroots directors for trade associations, advocacy organizations and issue-based groups who generate such correspondence in order to influence elected officials can maximize the impact of each email. Lobbyists for these organizations can produce a “Political Impact Statement” that totals up, in real-time, the political demographics of those writing on a particular issue in each district and present it to the congressional office.

Aristotle CEO John Aristotle Phillips said, “Elected officials get lots of emails on many issues. Positively identifying constituents and spotlighting why their opinion needs to be taken seriously, is the key. This technology is going to take grassroots campaigns to a new level. Legislators are more likely to respond to someone they know is a voting and/or contributing constituent in their district.”

Irica Solomon from the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies said, “It’s a game changer. It makes all the difference in the world if you’re getting hundreds of emails on a bill, to know which ones are coming from real live constituents who vote in primaries and have made political contributions. It’s that simple.”

Aristotle is also the first political data provider to offer data reflecting the 2012 congressional redistricting lines. Every ten years the Federal government conducts a national census and the official results from 2010 show that eight states have gained congressional seats and ten states have lost seats. Most other states that did not gain or lose a seat have changed, which means that the demographics have likely changed. It is invaluable for legislators, campaigns and advocacy groups to know where the lines fall and who is or is not in each district.

Read the full article from The Hill.

Washington, DC  (January 12, 2012) — Aristotle International, a leading non-partisan political data and  compliance technology provider got a boost this week when the Supreme Court, in a terse four word ruling, upheld  a lower court decision to ban political contributions to candidates for public office and political organizations by foreign nationals. The decision means that foreign nationals, other than lawful permanent residents, are completely banned from donating to candidates or parties, or making independent expenditures in federal, state or local elections.

Aristotle’s patent-pending data mining technology employs powerful software and algorithms and a highly accurate, up-to-date voter’s list to enable registered political committees and their treasurers to comply with complex state and federal campaign disclosure reporting requirements.  The company anticipated such a ruling when it filed for a patent nearly two years ago covering the integrated use of voter and contribution records for compliance and fundraising purposes.  The patent application, prepared by DLA Piper, is entitled: Integration of Voter and Contributor Data into Political Software and Compliance Systems for Purposes of Solicitation, Compliance, Vetting and Calls to Action.

When a contribution is made, on line or in person, Aristotle’s technology is used to instantly vet  the donors against the company’s nationwide registered voter list and other files to confirm  the donor is a U.S. citizen and has not exceed the personal contribution limits.  Campaign treasurers utilizing Aristotle are provided real time information that enables them to flag suspect contributions, contact the donor and, if necessary, return or reject the contribution as required by the Federal Election Commission.

“At a time when election rules are in flux, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the ban on foreign money in federal, state and local elections remains in place,” said former FEC Chairman and Aristotle Senior Vice President of Compliance Services David Mason. “This makes it even more important than ever for campaigns and political committees to screen for non-citizen donors.”

“The Aristotle system also allows campaigns to integrate fundraising and voter ID by identifying whether and where contributors are registered to vote,” added Mason.

Aristotle’s platform incorporates detailed state contributor and voter lists with highly accurate consumer databases to illuminate exactly how much a donor has given, how much they can give, and to suggest the maximum they might agree to contribute where allowed by law. This can significantly aid the campaign in satisfying ‘best efforts’ provisions that are required of all federal political committee treasurers.

“Campaigns have ten days to decline to take a contribution and return the amount, without having to report it to the FEC,” said Aristotle CEO John Aristotle Phillips. “If someone is a convicted sex offender, it’s usually a no-brainer to decline the donation. If someone giving money cannot be instantly confirmed as a registered U.S. voter, this should at least raise a flag for greater scrutiny. If they turn out not to be a U.S. citizen or a green-card holder, it’s definitely illegal. If the database check reveals they are a convicted felon, it may not be a matter of legality, but you might want to think twice before taking the money.”

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About Aristotle

For more than 25 years, every occupant of the White House — Democrat and Republican — has used Aristotle products and/or services, in addition to many U.S. Senators, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democratic and Republican state party organizations.  The company’s technology was featured Monday, January 9, 20112 on BBC and PBS in correspondent Katty Kay’s reporting on the 2012 presidential election contests.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16467412

Media Contact: Brandi Travis, (202) 903-4221

Read the full article from Fast Company.

“Maybe message number four and five will be effective with voters of some particular age and some particular income level, and maybe message number three will be in sync with a different set or a subset of those voters,” Phillips said.

Read the full article.