IMAGE CREDIT: CENTER FOR VOTER INFORMATION
We’ve Mailed Your Voting Record to Your Neighbors
I got an interesting letter in the mail recently, and so did several of my friends and neighbors. It came from the Center for Voter Information, and it comes off feeling like vote shaming, if not an outright attempt at intimidation. The letter starts by informing me that while who I vote for is private, my voting record is not. This is true, but using voter information like this just comes off as tacky.
We’re sending this mailing to you and your neighbors to share who does and does not vote in an effort to promote election participation.
Clearly they are sticking to state voting files, which explains the 2010 marker for no vote. I wasn’t in the state to vote that year and I missed the deadline for absentee voting.
We will be reviewing these records after the election to determine whether or not you joined your neighbors in voting. We may call you to ask about your voting experience and will update this chart for the next election. If you do not vote this year, while we will be disappointed, we’ll be interested to hear why not.
What’s the point? If this is something other than vote shaming and a poor attempt at intimidation, I’d welcome an explanation. What happens if they don’t like a person’s reasons for not voting? What else are they doing with voter records other than letters like this?
