Thursday, Halloween, was the day for chills and ghost stories, but sometimes things that come in the mail are even more creepy.
Wednesday, my spouse and I received a "Voting Report Card" from an outfit called the Center for Voting Information. It read, in part:
"Dear AM:
Public records indicate that you are eligible to vote in the coming election....Remember, who you vote for is private, but whether or not you voted is public record."
It then gave me a chart, contrasting my voting record (i.e. if I had voted in that year's general election), with two of my neighbors, with their addresses and names redacted, for the years 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
And then for the chills.
It continued "We will be reviewing these records after the election to determine whether or not you joined your neighbors in voting." (italics are mine).
And then what? Is this a veiled threat, given the political climate we in the United States are in? Aren't many of us exhausted or fearful already?
Who are these Center for Voter Information people, anyway? I invite you to research that online if you are interested. I did.
I went online. I'm not the only person who has received mailings from this Center for Voting Information and I'm not alone in feeling this particular mailing was creepy or even vaguely threatening.
So. It is true that voter registration records are public, at least in New York State. I can easily determine if I am on the registration rolls and find out my polling place. If I voted by absentee ballot, I can find out its status. And, I can see if I am registered as a Republican or a Democrat.
My actual vote is private. Our democracy depends on that privacy. I have the right to vote along party lines, or I can cross that line and vote for the other side. Voting is a civic duty, and I am well aware that, as a woman, many fought for my right to vote. In fact, at the time my mother was born, she had no right to vote. I am well aware of that, too. I don't need a mailing to tell me that.
Oh, and about that list of neighbors and if they voted. I have the grand total of, I believe, one neighbor on my block who was living there in 2016. For that matter, on my block, there is only one family besides us who was living here in 2022. One neighbor died earlier this year. Most other houses are rentals and there is a constant turnover of tenants.
Do I even care if my neighbors voted? (For the record, my spouse and I early voted in this year's election, and, once again, it's no one's business how we voted.)
So, about that "we will be reviewing these records....": For what purpose? Learning how to better influence my vote? Retribution? Who are you to review my voting records.
That really does creep me out.
Center for Voting Information, just stop it.
But, despite all this confusion....
Vote as if your freedom depends on it, my fellow Americans.
Because, one day, it might.
And that's what is truly creepy.
