By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A New York based political committee has been accused of sending what many see as an intimidating letter to party voters who have chosen not to vote in previous elections. Whether this is considered peer pressure, inducing worry, or encouraging others to vote has not diminished the controversy and shows an insight into some of the tactics political parties use to generate more votes to their cause. Letters such as this raise questions as to the ethics of shaming voters to vote. The right not to vote is considered a lawful option of the electorate.
The New York State Democratic Committee mailed a letter last week to voters reading:
Dear [voter]:
Our records indicate that you are registered to vote in Kings County:
Who you vote for is your secret. But whether or not you vote is a public record. Many organizations monitor turnout in your neighborhood and are disappointed by the inconsistent voting of many of your neighbors.
Here is some of the information you may need to vote:
- The polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- You can confirm your voter registration status by visiting
- https://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us/votersearch.aspx
- If you have any questions about voting, please call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683).
We will be reviewing the Kings County official voting records after the upcoming elections to determine whether you joined your neighbors who voted in 2014. If you do not vote this year, we will be interested to hear why not.
The letter reportedly included a voter report card grading a voter’s participation. Reportedly, these notifications were mailed out to one million registered Democrats who did not vote in previous mid-term elections. The grades consisted of: excellent; good; fair; and incomplete.
Included was a phone number for Election Protection, a nonprofit, nonpartisan voting resource organization. Election Protection spokeswoman Marcia Johnson-Blanco said the organization had nothing to do with the letter, but has received 400 calls from voters concerned about it.
The political committee, chaired by Governor David Patterson, defended the letter calling it a common practice throughout the country.
In a deflection, Peter Kaufman, a spokesman for the committee stated:
“This flier is part of the nationwide Democratic response to traditional Republican voter-suppression efforts, because Democrats believe our democracy works better when more people vote, not less. The difference between Democrats and Republicans is they don’t want people to vote and we want everyone to vote.”
The Associated Press reports:
“The letter relies on peer pressure and the possibility of surveillance to encourage turnout – a tactic that research shows is highly effective compared to more costly and time consuming get-out-the-vote efforts like phone calls and door knocking, according to Costas Panagopoulos, a political science professor at Fordham University.
The practice is becoming much more widespread, and similar letters have been reported this election year in Alaska, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Colorado and Iowa.
Panagopoulos noted that while they succeed with many voters, “these heavy handed social-pressure messages do generate considerable backlash.”
‘Shaming people to vote works,’ he said. “It’s remarkably effective. … It’s not enough to ask people to be good citizens. What you have to tell them is that their actual behavior is being monitored.”
Such a system does however lend credence into the notion that, like the political tactics used in the mailing of such letters, some of the practices that could come light if voter choices are ever made public, and if in the immediate sense should the right to vote or not to vote be not be subject to public records requests.
By Darren Smith
Sources:
Washington Times
Associated Press
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
Would be great to see Bernie Sanders run as the Independent that he is, on a third party ticket.
My 11:0 a.m. post will not show up in the recent comments.
I am in NC and I got a mildly intimidating postcard with my voting grade on it, followed five days later by a most intimidating letter with the following final sentence: If you do not vote this year, we will be interested to hear WHY YOU LET YOUR COMMUNITY DOWN by failing to vote.
I haven’t voted for a democrat in 18 years but I cannot get off their mailing list because I am registered independent and my prior history of voting democrat keeps me on the list.
I registered my complaints loud and clear at the North Carolina Democratic party – twice! Will it matter? Probably not, as both parties will find that enough of their idiot voters will fall for this and vote based on shame, guilt and intimidation.
Possible next moves in the goosestep to totalitarianism: they will post the names of all who voted on their websites [it is, after all, in the public record]. The two parties will pretend that they want to congratulate them for voting, but actually, there will be subtle, but clear, pressure on them to identify their family, friends, and neighbors whose names don’t appear on the list and the voters will be “encouraged” to “persuade” the non-voters to vote next time. And after a few more next times, it will be the law that we must vote AND they’ll make it easy on us by telling us who to vote for. Poor Mr. Orwell is being over-invoked these days but for very good reason.
So once again I will be delighted to vote independent/third party. This year, if the ballot allows, I will be writing in the one young man who did more in the last 15 months to preserve a democratic America than the entire congress has done in my lifetime.
Annie, Absolutely Obama is to the right of Bush. But many people still think he is a liberal, both on the left and right. That is because of excellent propaganda by USGinc. and minions.
However, he is one of the world’s most prolific weapons dealers (on behalf of his patrons). So whether he appears right or left to certain propagandized citizens the fact remains, he has dressed the part for looking respectable while killing men, women and children.
Jill, would you say that Obama is to the right of Bush? Some folks still seem to think he’s a liberal.
We don’t get to come to a political blog and spout partisan junk that had already made the ’rounds’ on Milwaukee right wing radio shows like Charlie Sykes and have no one question it. No one has of yet produced any such letters, go figure. Haz has every right to refuse my request, I have the right to question his assertions, it’s that simple. We have seen what happens when one questions assertions, the personal accusations and insults come flying fast and furious. It’s the same on every right wing blog, I’ve ever commented on or visited.
And if you posted that letter, even after whiting out your wife’s name and address, the date and the union would still be there. It wouldn’t be too hard for the caller to figure out it was you. How many people told him to p^&&^ off because both of you were packing?
It’s absurd for anyone to demand that you report a phone call to the police or you’re a liar. We all get to decide how we want to handle unpleasant situations.
I have a good reason to be anonymous, my own daughter, the attorney has had her real name revealed by these miscreants. When they go after your children…. I won’t say, it would be deleted.
Lying on Twitter about other RIL commenters is also easily done, I’ve seen it first hand. Pretty despicable.
Michael H:
“Correct. Within one hour of my first ever comment on Professor Turley’s blog, the commenter called “Annie” found my twitter identity, created a twitter account in the name of “Annie” and sent me a threatening tweet in which she identified herself as “Annie from Turley”. I duly reported it to Prof Turley, who I believe addressed the situation. So no, I will not post anything containing personal information on this blog. Or anywhere else for that matter.”
Yep. That’s what happens.
There have been discussions on this blog about anonymity encouraging behavior that most people would never engage in under their real name. But there are so many instances in the news of people trying to punish those in their personal or professional lives for opinions posted on the internet. Sometimes they even go after the businesses of those with whom they disagree on the Internet.
This is the first blog I’ve posted on, and it’s definitely been a learning experience.
When my little boy grows up, and we’re retired, then I’ll consider setting aside anonymity.
I’ve blocked several people on Twitter. It’s easily done.
Haz,
Are your claims reasonable? Absolutely! Quite frankly, I’m not surprised by any tactic used on behalf of either major political party, or the minions they have carrying out their strategies. As long as they have voters without critical-thinking skills and these schlemiels running defense for them, then they will continue the practice. The fact you’re being called a liar by one of them is proof enough that your claim has merit.
Regarding your experience in this blog; I learned how to block someone on Twitter as a result of the same thing. Doing something similar here is far easier.
slohrss29,
I think this is a false choice presented to us by USGinc. propagandists. What we really have is this: 1. one party which appears to be uneducated war mongers and 2. a second party which appears to be educated war mongers. The key in this is not education but “warmongeres”.
Because we are a class based society we tend to excuse the actions of those who appear educated, well dressed, polite, wine drinkers. Fulminating good ole boys and girls put many people off, because they just don’t appear to be the right kind of people to us.
The best cons dress for their part. One famous diamond thief dressed impeccably in the most expensive clothes. She was able to rip off the most sophisticated jeweler because she looked like their ideal customer. Just so, someone like Jamie Dimon has been able to steal trillions of dollars from US taxpayers. He has very nice clothes, including presidential cuff links, yachts, fine houses. etc so very few people suspect him of anything except being an upstanding citizen. Yet most of our population of any class will begin a serious fulmination about supposed “welfare cheats”. We are unable to see the trillion dollar theft committed by the man who looks “respectable”.
Let’s just look at two highly respectable and educated gun nuts, Obama and Diane Feinstein. Now they aren’t foaming at the mouth, they dress nice and talk nice. But these are two people facilitating the transfer of weapons across the world. They don’t look like them thar militia types but I ask, what, besides the amount and deadliness of the weapons they sell, is the difference in their actions?.
So I believe we must guard against our tendency to excuse those who look good and act the part we prefer. If the action we decry is war mongering then we don’t vote for a war monger.
Haz, You’re being lectured on “veracity.” NOW see why I have an ignore list???
Michael Haz,
I have a proposal too. How about you defend your position and assertions without becoming personal? And no, when I have doubts about the veracity of your claims, I will still voice those doubts, as I would toward ANY other commenter that spouts what I consider to be blatantly untrue. You also have that right.
Annie: Here is a proposal. I will stop interacting with you on this blog if you stop interacting with me.
This is a terrific blog with great topics and smart commenters. There is nothing gained in off-topic back and forth about one thing or another.
Deal?
I have worked on campaigns for Democrats. When push comes to shove, one side is absolutely just as bad as the other. After all, we are all human, and often–especially under pressure, ideals go out the window. Don’t swallow the “team” pill. Vote your conscience. If there is no candidate that supports your views, reconsider voting at all.
And, as I usually do, I often negate my own thought. For example, alot of us are tired of our government chasing down poor muslim families and killing them with drones, intrusive and ridiculous healthcare solutions, and general disregard for the Constitutional government. HOWEVER, when faced with an alternative of salivating, rabid, and apparently uneducated warmongers who are fighting over each other to get to the red button–WHAT DO YOU DO?????
It’s a common tactic among some folks to personally attack a fellow commenter, then make the argument that the person who is defending themselves is making the thread “about” themselves. It is reasonable to assume that if the person wasn’t put in the position of defending themselves, the thread would flow and the arguments would remain on point. This tactic is a common one seen on many right wing blogs.
Good work on your surveillance, Haz. According to the Marquette poll, the stolen votes should not steal the election. But, I bet turnout is 104% in Milwaukee.
Haz, Trumka needs to send that letter to Alison Grimes. And, you folks see why I have an ignore list??