Jonathan Coulton, a singer-songwriter whose work I enjoy, recently received a letter from the Democratic Party of New York, which stated that they knew he was registered to vote, and that although his actual vote was protected by law, whether or not he voted was a matter of public record. They noted that if he didn’t vote, they’d be interested in knowing why not.
He posted a picture of the letter on his Twitter feed, saying, “I think the Democrats just threatened me.” A number of sites, such as this one, agreed that it was a threat. He’s not too thrilled with that, actually, because he usually votes Democratic, and meant the comment sarcastically.
Similar letters have been sent out by the Democrats and affiliated PACs in Connecticut and several other states, as well.
I received one in the mail today. It’s not a letter, though – it’s a glossy flyer paid for by the campaign for my local Democratic state senate candidate, Rachel Zenzinger. One side states in large type that it is “2014 General Election Information,” and, “Who Votes Is Public Information.” The other side has large type at the top that says, “Records indicate you voted in the past.” At the bottom, in bold, it says, “We may contact you after the election to hear about your voting experience.” In between, it makes the claim that Ms. Zenzinger, whose name never came to my attention before canvassers came through my neighborhood last month, has a record of standing up for all that is right and good.
Ms. Zenzinger was appointed to her post when Evie Hudak saw the writing on the wall and resigned, rather than go through a recall election. This allowed the Democrats to keep the seat, which an election would likely have cost them, so this is Ms. Zenzinger’s first election for the seat. The flyer is kind of a waste, though. Among other widely-unpopular actions the Colorado Democrats, who control the state government, have taken recently, they made this a mail-ballot-only election, which Republicans have called an invitation to vote fraud. Oh, I imagine that there are some people who have yet to fill out their ballots, and will drop them off tomorrow, but I suspect that the vast majority of voters have, like me, already submitted their ballots. I’m just wondering how many people will take advantage of the same legislation that made this a vote-by-mail election to walk into a polling station tomorrow, register to vote, and receive and fill in a ballot.
UPDATE: Apparently, my WordPress installation had (maybe has) the wrong time – it hadn’t been adjusted back to MST.
