Althouse: "Who you vote for is your secret. But whether or not you vote is public record... We will be reviewing voting records..."

October 31, 2014

"Who you vote for is your secret. But whether or not you vote is public record... We will be reviewing voting records..."

". . . 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."

Letter from the New York State Democratic Committee that The New York Post paraphrases for headline purposes: "Democrats: Vote or we’ll kick your ass."

That's in the style of the notorious Daily News headline from the 70s: "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD."

40 comments:

F said...: Speculation on my part, but I will bet this was sent only to registered (D) voters. Is this cynical on their part? Yes. Am I surprised? Not at all.; 10/31/14, 5:57 PM
campy said...: I was already planning to stay home on Tuesday.

This stuff makes me even more certain to abstain.

.
.

(I live in Mass., so my vote never matters.); 10/31/14, 5:58 PM
Dan Hossley said...: Creepy, isn't it. I guess if you don't vote, they'll take back your Obamaphone, or your Obamacare, or something.; 10/31/14, 5:59 PM
traditionalguy said...: This exercise was done for the same reason Obama's Marxists are happy that Snowden exposed they are bugging and storing a record of every shred of electronic communications that you and I make.

They want us afraid of the power over us their new knowledge gives them.; 10/31/14, 6:01 PM
RecChief said...: well, that wasn't orwellian and creepy was it?; 10/31/14, 6:10 PM
Hagar said...: No, it isn't.
It is "We know where you live and where your daughter goes to school."; 10/31/14, 6:26 PM
Revenant said...: Nah, this isn't about intimidation. It is about making sure that all the dead folks and illegals they paid Acorn to register actually showed up in the vote totals. :); 10/31/14, 6:31 PM
pacwest said...: Creepy. Ominous. Almost makes you sympathetic to those nutso survivalists who are worried that they might be persecuted by the government.

And the President can call on the IRS anytime he wants if he finds your voting record "wanting".; 10/31/14, 6:49 PM
alan markus said...: Speculation on my part, but I will bet this was sent only to registered (D) voters.

Yes indeed, as per the linked article:

Overall, the notices were sent out to 1 million registered Democrats who had failed to vote in previous midterm elections, according to the group.; 10/31/14, 6:53 PM
Wilbur said...: Liberals. Socialists. Communists.

It's how they roll. Intimidation in all its sundry forms.

If this surprises you, you haven't paid attention.; 10/31/14, 6:53 PM
Original Mike said...: "If you do not vote this year, we will be interested to hear why not."

Who the hell is "We"?; 10/31/14, 7:04 PM
garage mahal said...: A co-worker brought one of these to work. It's from some Republican outfit out of Milwaukee. The co-worker is a Republican, but hates Walker. But he was completely livid. I don't get hardly mailers at all :(; 10/31/14, 7:10 PM
Bob Ellison said...: garage mahal said "A co-worker brought one of these to work. It's from some Republican outfit out of Milwaukee."

That rings possible. A few days before an election years ago, I once received a hand-delivered flyer accusing one candidate (a Republican) of something like puppy-blending. I complained, and the candidate herself showed up at my door to say it wasn't she who did it.

This is gonna be a weird three days.; 10/31/14, 7:17 PM
trumpintroublenow said...: Campy -- "I was already planning to stay home on Tuesday. This stuff makes me even more certain to abstain."

Me too; 10/31/14, 7:21 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Once again, do the folks who sent out this flyer realize how Soviet they sound?

If a political party sent me a flyer like this, I'd be sure to vote alright --- for the other party.

Like they said, they just know if you voted or not, not who you voted for.; 10/31/14, 7:52 PM
Drago said...: garage: "The co-worker is a Republican, but hates Walker."

LOL

Yes, I'm sure your "republican" co-worker is very "concerned" about Walkers policies and hates him for it.; 10/31/14, 8:16 PM
Drago said...: YoungHegelian: "Once again, do the folks who sent out this flyer realize how Soviet they sound?"

Yes they do, and to them this is a feature, not a bug.; 10/31/14, 8:17 PM
jacksonjay said...: I'm pretty certain that when
Swaggy and Michelle hear about this, they'll put a stop to it. You know, they have really committed themselves to bully prevention and all. They will probably enlist the aid of Facebook and MTV, you know. Bullying is mean and all.

If Swaggy can't stop it, anti-bully bully Dan Savage will give them a good tongue lashing. That will surely put an end to this ugly behavior.

Being bullied can lead to self-loathing and all.; 10/31/14, 8:35 PM
averagejoe said...: They thought they were part of the Mob until the Mob came knocking at their door in the middle of the night... #GreatPurgeOf2014; 10/31/14, 9:11 PM
chillblaine said...: Sounds like the Stasi. David Patterson must be blind to the potential consequences of this.; 10/31/14, 9:17 PM
Whitey Sepulchre said...: "Yes, I'm sure your "republican" co-worker is very "concerned" about Walkers policies and hates him for it."

All my Republican friends loathe Walker. Why do you say that?; 10/31/14, 9:47 PM
Original Mike said...: "A co-worker brought one of these to work. It's from some Republican outfit out of Milwaukee."

Huh? This was in New York.; 10/31/14, 9:58 PM
Mark said...: Ve have vays to make you vote.; 10/31/14, 10:12 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: My daughter ( registered Democrat ) got one of these from the Sierra Club.

The Sierra Club ... is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation, classified as 501(c)(4) by the Internal Revenue Service.; 10/31/14, 10:14 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Good thing the IRS has been keeping a close eye on those tea party groups...; 10/31/14, 10:15 PM
Ken B said...: You are criticizing the HEADLINE here? Not the democrats?; 10/31/14, 10:24 PM
garage mahal said...: To my impostor: die in a fire, coward.; 10/31/14, 10:37 PM
TomHynes said...: Apparently, the GOP in Iowa is doing the same thing. http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/10/31/3587414/iowa-republican-facebook-ads/

ThinkProgress and the commenteriat there think this the GOP ad is vastly worse than the Democrat letter because they say the GOP implies that they will figure out who you vote for.; 10/31/14, 11:09 PM
MadisonMan said...: I received something similar. It compared my voting record to the neighborhood mean. Not sure why someone pays money to tell me what I already know.; 10/31/14, 11:33 PM
tim maguire said...: garage found a way to turn this into a complaint about Republicans.

Gee, what a surprise.; 11/1/14, 6:02 AM
Dustin said...: TomHynes,

I agree that the GOP ad is worse.

The tone of the democrat mailer seems more aggressive "we will be interested to find out why not" implies they will reach you somehow.

Regardless, both are either thoughtlessly thuggish or intentionally thuggish.

Frankly, my opinion is that both parties exist for nothing except to gain power, which is usually used to enrich the politicians by selling access and loopholes. Democrats are more populist and I think that means more effective in their shamelessness, as they have easily morphed into selling the treasury via benefits. But neither party exists to advance an actual philosophy for long term good. Both pretend to, in order to get more power, but the party as its own entity could care less.

A minority of each party's officials and candidates do care about something, but they are part of the party because it's the least bad way to effect change.

I think somehow, if we could come up with a way to have our elections without these damn political parties, things would not be so corrupt and stagnant. Hard to work out how to do that without some ridiculous tyranny.; 11/1/14, 6:13 AM
Dustin said...: Garage, that's odd that you don't know anyone in your state who likes the governor who has won so many elections in recent years.

Do you think this is because of your attitude towards those people, or do you think it's because there really aren't that many of them around you?; 11/1/14, 6:15 AM
lonetown said...: Quotes should be around DROP DEAD as I remember it. That was the most offensive part, as I remember it. They faked a quote.; 11/1/14, 7:06 AM
lonetown said...: also, this strategery only works on adolescent girls and extreme beta males. Others will find it so offensive that it will backfire.; 11/1/14, 7:09 AM
Mrs Whatsit said...: The pictures of the "Democrat" letter that I've seen have no return address and no signature. That's the worst thing about it: the thugs who sent it want you to know that THEY know who YOU are, but don't have the guts to sign their names. Cowards.; 11/1/14, 7:44 AM
RecChief said...: what's interesting about that supposed GOP ad is I can't find it anywhere other than the "screen shot" on Think Progress' web site.

If you go to the vote.gop.com/ia website shown in that screen shot, all you get is a web site where you enter your address, press enter, and you are shown the location of your polling place.

Ooooh Scaaaaaary!; 11/1/14, 8:12 AM
ascot said...: They also sent proof of knowing how you vote... Most reports are leaving that out... "“I’m outraged. Whether I vote or not is none of your business!” said a Manhattan voter, who was so incensed that she complained to a local Democratic leader.

“The letter is ludicrous and menacing,” said the voter, who requested anonymity.

The woman also received a report card of her voting record, pointing out that she had failed to vote in two of the last four elections.

Overall, the notices were sent out to 1 million registered Democrats who had failed to vote in previous midterm elections, according to the group."

Election tampering and voter intimidation.; 11/1/14, 8:22 AM
Dr Weevil said...: Poor garage mahal hasn't figured out why everyone he knows who admits to voting Republican tells him they hate Walker. They've found it's the only way to avoid being subjected to interminable tirades about how horrible Walker is and how they should be ashamed to even think of voting for him and . . . I could go on, but we all know the rest, and are thoroughly sick of it. How much worse it must be in person, when you can't just close the browser or switch to another tab.

Should we give gm some credit for his supposed friends' willingness to admit to being Republicans at all? I don't think so. If they said they were Democrats, he'd bore them to tears with his 'thoughts' on politics, and they'd wear out their neck muscles nodding as they tried to get away.

There's no need to explain why 'undecided' wouldn't work either. The quickest way to shut a political bore down is to allege that you disagree with him on the overall issues, while granting some (imaginary) agreement on whatever it is he is most boringly insistent and persistent about.; 11/1/14, 11:22 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: My wife got one today from the Republican party, which is odd because she is a registered Democrat.

It was similar to the one pictured at the thinkprogress link, except that it does not claim to show which party people voted for.; 11/1/14, 3:32 PM
Sam L. said...: Dems: Always threatening catastrophe.; 11/2/14, 11:46 AM