Did You Get A Letter From The Voter Participation Center?

Politics is a numbers game. Candidates want to reach out to voters, so they use various public records to see if it's worth their time and effort to talk to you. If you vote, your name is on a registered voter list. Your name is also on a list the times you voted in an election. The only information about you that isn't kept on a list is for whom you voted.

I got a weird form letter in the mail today, and honestly, it has me a little freaked out. My name and voting record going back to the 2010 general election is clearly printed. There are three other places for names and addresses on my street. That information is blacked out, but the voting record for two other addresses on my street are not. I don't know the addresses or the names, but I do know that someone in two other houses on my street didn't vote in the 2014 or 2016 general elections.

I don't want to know that information about my neighbors and I don't want them knowing that about me. It's weird, and feels like a horrible invasion of privacy. What if the flyer with my information had been sent accidentally to one of my neighbors? And who the hell is The Voter Participation Center, the outfit who sent this mailer in the first place?

I Googled them and according to their website:

"The Voter Participation Center is a research-driven, non-profit and non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing the participation of unmarried women and other historically underrepresented groups in our democracy."

If you know anything about me, you know I'm married and don't think I'm underrepresented as I have been a registered voter for years. The group appears to be just interested in getting women to register to vote, but in this day and age, this kind of mailer seems a little suspicious. So, can you be taken off their list? Yes, you can.

If you get a mailer like this in the mail, you can get removed from their list of future mailers by clicking this link.

I'm sure these are very nice people, but I just don't like the idea that what I consider private information is in my mailbox and potentially accessible to others.

Ok. I feel better now. Rant over.

By the way, don't forget to vote on Tuesday, November 6.