Discussion:

Discussion for article #229505

I thought voting was a respected kept secret… I’m both puzzled and a bit shocked someone was able to get these records.

Who one votes for is secret. The fact that one voted can be public information, as are voter registration rolls.

MoveOn sent me one of those vote-shaming letters in 2012 and I was infuriated by their claim that I hadn’t voted in any previous election–I’ve voted in every federal and state election since I was eligible.

Lake Oswego, Oregon is a very white, very rich, very Republican suburb of Portland. The lake is private, and they recently had a hissy fit over apartments in downtown. Even tho they were to be very expensive, high end apartments, the locals were still afraid the renters might be riff-raff.

by their fruits ye shall know them…

A 57 year old woman is a Vietnam vet? She would have been only 18 when the entire US presence in Vietnam evacuated. Troop reductions began 2 years earlier. Something’s fishy here or someone got confused by the many overseas entanglements we’ve had since then.

Lives in Lake Oswego eh? And it’s Halloween…

Hmmmmmm

I happen to live in L.O. And although I’m very white (pink actually) and my wife and I live comfortably we, like about half of L.O. are not too Republicanish. And at the prices the apartments in the Wizer block would rent for we’re not concerned that those kind of people might move here. After all, we do have Mr Bryan and a few other wastrels already.

“America” is getting less recognizable every day

Remember, if you haven’t done anything wrong, then there is no problem with having your data available and used. So I’ve been told.

I don’t see the problem, other than a Republican’s doing it. As Earl Grey Party points out whether you vote or not is public record. You can rest assured that lots of organizations, and not just the parties, know your voting history. Got your ass out and vote, then you won’t feel humiliated.

Unless of course you voted for Perot

If you voted by mail, it could mean that your ballot was rejected in 2012.

Legal, but fairly offensive to most voters.

""Alsip, 57, is a Vietnam veteran "…huh?

“I fought for this country”…not in Vietnam. She would have turned 18 in 1975…no troops were being sent then. It was over.

It’s a good thing that it’s pretty clear which party the Alaska State Voter Program is aligned with.

Public records are public. Imagine that…

That would piss me off enough to vote for the opposition of whomever was trying to shame me.

might have been a part of the evacuation… but certainly did not actually ‘serve’ in vietnam.
kinda like how ernst sorta/kinda overstates her ‘veteran of the iraqi war’ status… she oversaw logistics while stationed in kuwait.

In my precinct, the voter rolls are always posted outside the polling place several times a day on election day, complete with crossouts to show who has already voted. Each campaign that has a get-out-the-vote effort checks mid-day so they can focus their efforts on those who hadn’t already voted.

But,sure, this is a really important issue in our world. How DARE anyone publish your failure to engage in the most basic element of civic participation! It’s intimidation, it’s threatening, it’s, it’s… as if it were public information. And, as half the faux election integrity people out there will happily tell you, the public isn’t entitled to public information. That would be scary. Keep it tightly controlled by academics. They are the high-integrity people, and the rest of us will just have to trust them.

I hate to say it, but it’s not just this PAC. A few days ago, I received a mailer from my state’s Democratic Executive Committee showing how many of the last four general elections I’d voted in (“according to public records”) and scoring me Excellent, Good, or Average accordingly.

Note that this wasn’t a letter, enclosed in an envelope. It was a large postcard-like mailer. Anyone seeing this thus knows, without putting forth any effort to discover this information, how many elections I voted in, how many elections I didn’t (thus the shaming), and - since it came from the state Democratic party - what my party registration is.

“Public records” or not, this is inappropriate and just stupid. What would make the Party think its members want to be treated in this way?

By the way, they call this a “Voter Report Card”. They say this in large “fuck you” letters on the front:

"Who you vote for is your secret. But whether or not you vote is public record. The Voter Report Card on the back shows your voting attendance record.

It’s designed to help you keep track of how you’re doing. In the future, we hope to send you an updated Voter Report Card before each election."

Sounds like a threat of more shaming there at the end, no?