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RandySF

(70,950 posts)
Fri Nov 1, 2024, 10:17 PM Nov 1

State orders halt to mailings that left voters 'intimidated, shocked and ill-at-ease'

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office sent a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to a national voter engagement organization that the state says is sending out mailers that “threaten to publicly expose” voting records of Marylanders just days out from the 2024 election.

The attorney general’s letter is in response to an unsolicited “Voting Report Card” being sent to people across the state by the Voter Participation Center, a nonprofit that claims it’s trying to drive more voters to the polls, specifically unmarried women, people of color and young voters. A sister organization, the Center for Voter Information, has also been sending out mailers.

The mailer that Marylanders have been receiving lists the voter’s name, address and voting records beginning with the 2016 general election. It also allegedly shows what it claims are voting records of neighbors, though names and addresses are censored.

The letter also states that the Voter Participation Center “will be reviewing these records after the election to determine whether or not you joined your neighbors in voting.”




https://marylandmatters.org/2024/10/31/state-orders-halt-to-mailings-that-left-voters-intimidated-shocked-and-ill-at-ease/

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State orders halt to mailings that left voters 'intimidated, shocked and ill-at-ease' (Original Post) RandySF Nov 1 OP
That information is publicly available. But don't like the sound of that mailing. Silent Type Nov 1 #1
I live in Illinois and got a mailer with my voting history from the Center for Voter Information. sinkingfeeling Nov 2 #2
I have no idea how this would encourage anyone. qwlauren35 Nov 4 #3

Silent Type

(7,140 posts)
1. That information is publicly available. But don't like the sound of that mailing.
Fri Nov 1, 2024, 10:38 PM
Nov 1

I got a bunch of texts before dropping off my ballot 10/24 from Democratic groups making sure I knew where to go, etc. Those I didn’t mind and thanked them for their efforts.

sinkingfeeling

(53,129 posts)
2. I live in Illinois and got a mailer with my voting history from the Center for Voter Information.
Sat Nov 2, 2024, 11:11 AM
Nov 2

It states, " 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. While we have hidden the name and street number of your neighbors to protect their privacy, these are their true voting records."

Obviously the data came from the Illinois database since I have only voted here twice.

qwlauren35

(6,278 posts)
3. I have no idea how this would encourage anyone.
Mon Nov 4, 2024, 04:35 PM
Nov 4

But I'm not sure that it would "discourage" anyone unless they didn't know that *whether* they vote (not who they vote for) is public, and this new knowledge makes them feel like their privacy has been invaded.

If it does discourage people who feel violated, it will be hard to combat.

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