Whose business is it whether I voted or not?

The BBQ Pit
1

I came home today and found a mailer in the slot trying to get people to come out and vote in the recall. They mailer starts out…

[QUOTE=Greater Wisconsin Political Fund]
**Dear Registered Voter:

Scott Walker won in 2010 because too many people stayed homne!**
[/QUOTE]

…and carries on like that for a few lines. Their solution to get people to get out and vote? Try to shame people into voting. Following their “get out and vote” message is a list of 12 neighbors and my name with whether or not they voted in the last two elections.

Along with “outing” peoples voting history the list is also misleading. They have a previous tenant of mine listed as voting in the 2008 election but not in the 2010 one. Of course they didn’t vote in the 2010 Wisconsing election, they fucking moved to a different state in 2009.

I know it’s public record but seriously how the fuck is it anyone elses business whether I voted or not? Also what fucking right does this group have to publish my Name, Address and whether I voted or not?

Some quick Googling shows the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund appears to be a Democratic leaning PAC. I consider myself to lean quite Democratic but I do not support this kind of tactic.

2

Published in a flyer if you opted or not? I’d be livid.

That’s just wrong.

3

A friend of mine (also Democratic-leaning) just posted on FB about this. She’s pissed because she’s been trying to get a drug-dealing neighbor kicked out/locked up for some time, and now the asshole has her full name if he pays attention to this mailing.

Here I thought it was bad when my county’s GOP sent us a “what have we done wrong?” postcard after the first local primary at our current address. Listen, just because we live in a tremendously Republican-voting town, that doesn’t mean everyone here is! (My letter carrier husband confirms the vast majority of the residents received a “thanks!” postcard.)

4

voted, not opted.

Stoopid auto-correct. :smack:

5

Wow, that seems … scary. I didn’t realize that was public information.

6

didn’t the names and addresses of all the people that signed the petition to have the recall election get published and available online? was that also put into newspaper ads by people opposing the recall?

7

Absent death squads hunting down people making the wrong votes, I never understood why people got so anal and secretive about their voting.

8

Wow, I did not know that records of whether a person voted in a given election were public. That definitely seems like a violation of privacy.

9

In my state, you have to sign “the book” prior to being issued a ballot. The book contains a list of all registered voters in the precinct, with name, address, and a space to sign for your ballot. I suppose it is a security measure intended to prevent the same person from voting multiple times. In theory, that book is likely available for public inspection somewhere, and that doesn’t particularly bother me. Having my name, address, and whether or not I voted in the last election mailed to my neighbors would bother me more than a little. Seems overly intrusive. I agree with the OP that it really isn’t anyone’s business but mine.

10

So if you never registered to vote, your name isn’t on any lists right? Just curious.

11

I found this funny.

12

Aw man! I even spent time looking for typos. This mistake was mine, it wasn’t on the mailer.

13

This is how it works here as well.

14

Obligatory Dave Chappelle commentary:

http://comedy-quotes.com/dave-chappelle/political_affiliations.html

15

This sort of information should not be pubic. Does anyone have a compelling reason to offer as to why it should be?

16

Of course it has to be public. If Charlie Q Citizen of 154 Oak Street did not vote, but the record shows him casting a vote, then there’s a problem.

And anyone needs to be able to audit that information – investigators, newspapers, concerned citizens.

Should it be publicized like that? No.

17

It definitely shouldn’t be pubic, though.

18

I got one of these too in yesterday’s mail, and I gotta say it really pisses me off. All I can think to do is send them an email promising they will never get a nickel out of my pocket.

19

I little research is making me very leery of the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund.

Their website has no “contact us” link, no names, no it solicits money but not volunteers, and the contact info they have is the same as the Greater Wisconsin Committee.

The Greater Wisconsin Committee is another shadowy organization, according to this article in Madison’s Isthmus newspaper:

The Fund seems to be the openly political arm of the Committee, though the committee claims non-partisanship.

20

Wisconsin native here: proud of it until just last week when I finally snapped.
How many hours left until the incessant Robo-calls and the misleading mailers and the inflammatory TV commercials end?

And why don’t I just stop answering the landline and watching TV until Tuesday’s over?