Women on phone with NY voter employee who is telling her how they purged her father from registratio

[Maraya1969]

And how he is going to have to re-register if he wants to vote in NY. His address has been the same since he became a citizen 12 years ago and he voted for Obama

[Petrushka]

1. Outrageous!

[YOHABLO]

2. Sounds really fishy to me. Must be pressure from top down to use ''not responding" as

a means to purge people from registration. Heads should roll.

[pnwmom]

6. If you don't vote for 4 years, and you don't respond to follow-up letters from the elections office,

you are likely to be purged no matter where you live. Otherwise the voter rolls would be full of people who had moved or died.

[surrealAmerican]

8. So what if they are?

It's not like dead people, or people who moved away will be showing up.

Keeping people on the rolls for a few more years doesn't hurt anybody.

[Maraya1969]

13. But this man voted for Obama. I am assuming either both times or the last time because he became

an American citizen.

[pnwmom]

18. What man? The mother hadn't voted since 2012 -- that was 4 years ago.

[progree]

32. If you are talking about the OP, it is the daughter checking on the registration status of her

father. And the Nov 6, 2012 election was 3.45 years ago.

[blackspade]

17. Your full throated defense of voter suppression is thoroughly obnoxious

Her father voted in the 2012 election and has lived at the same address for 12 years.
What reason could there be to send out a letter to him to begin with?
This jackass she is talking to is all over the place; it's the postman, the post office, her father, the automated system.....
Do they send letters to everyone? If not, why not?

That you support this bullshit is sickening and un-democratic.

[pnwmom]

3. The mother hasn't voted in four years. Though different offices vary in the length of time

they wait, it is SOP for elections offices to purge registrations of people who fail to vote for several years, as the mother did. Otherwise the registers would be filled with the names of people who had moved or died years before.

She says her mother doesn't speak English, so her mother might have thought the follow-up letter was junk and just tossed it. Or maybe the post office did screw it up.

The daughter is lucky she hadn't been purged, too. When you don't vote for 4 years, you're taking that risk. Maybe they need to teach more about this in high school.

[lostnfound]

10. So many words defending voter purges

And maybe you have a very organized life compared to some others
Death in the family, illness, depression, car problems, sick kids, forgetfulness, disorganization, unplanned overtime work, vacations and last minute business trips are on the reasons why people might miss a vote in midterms
Compassion and age have taught me to notice, not everyone is on sailing on calm waters

[Maraya1969]

15. +1000

[shraby]

21. Some people only vote in the presidential elections..which are 4 years apart.

[Kip Humphrey]

22. SOP usually is if someone has not voted in the previous 2 to 4 federal election cycles.

The NY Democratic committee changed the rules for this primary such that if one does not vote in the previous 2 consecutive elections including municipal and local elections, 2 purge letters are obsessively mailed to such a voter and that voter's is delisted if they don't respond.

This change in rules was not publicized. Citizens who last voted in 2012 are automatically candidates for delisting.

See my post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280178724

[kristndem]

27. 4 years is just one presidential election cycle

He voted 3 years ago for Obama. How is this long enough to be purged?

[BlueMTexpat]

29. Well, by my count, 2012 was

four years ago.

But state rules vary and registration rules can change, especially if one only votes once in four years. The best thing for ALL voters to do is to verify that their registration is valid for every election.

Usually states do send reminders to re-register. I know that MD does in my case. I believe that I have had to re-register every two years for the past several election cycles, but that is because I often vote absentee from a foreign address. Others I know who reside in-state do not seem to have the same requirement.

[progree]

35. the Nov 6, 2012 presidential election was 3.45 years ago. eom

[Scootaloo]

30. Maybe we need fewer Dixiecrats urging poll taxes and literacy tests and sweeping purges

I can't tell if you're supporting Hillary clinton or Katherine Harris anymore, pnwmom.

[newthinking]

34. There is no justification for this period. Here is why

I keep hearing these circular arguments (not necessarily from you).

But we are Democrats! We are progressive!

We don't fold and start talking the language of the Republicans.

This is all inexcusable. At the very least: In a modern, computerized world this should NEVER happen without multiple checks and balances.

It can be automated, some automated routines could be put in place quite easily and with a staff of one or two people.

At the very least those return envelopes should be scanned into a database.

If we are truly DEMOCRATIC we would go further: If they get two returns and don't answer the email it should be sent multiple times. I would argue there should be at least one attempt to knock on their door and there should be an automated message to their phone of record.

Now, those are all reasonable and most of them can be put into place with little effort. So why would anyone justify this? At the least call for reform in the system. Otherwise you folks are just helping those who would think democracy is inconvenient.

Please stop excusing this.

[Maraya1969]

38. I think people should never be removed from the voting list unless they are dead or remounce

citizenship.

I don't think it is that hard to find out who died.

[Sancho]

4. Typical in Florida...

sometimes it's GOP election supervisors cherry picking Hispanic or black names, sometimes its challenges to voters from "anyone", sometimes it's centered around zip codes.

The idea of culling voter registration rolls was perfected with Jeb and Katherine Harris.

Maybe NY is seeing it for the first time. Not likely aimed at a particular candidate, but probably mostly potential Democrats.

[progree]

5. That happens to us too in Minnesota - if we haven't voted in 4 years, we are no longer registered

Fortunately, we have same-day registration -- we can register at the polls, so not that big of a deal for us. It sounds like they don't have that in New York.

As for sending letters and requiring a response to remain registered, I haven't heard of that here. I remember reading Greg Palast about Florida 2000, that they did that to certain (typically Democratic leaning) demographics, if I remember correctly....

On edit I see Sancho in #4 is familiar with that...

Another edit: Here's the Greg Palast article about what's going on these days (currently in the Greatest Threads section of the home page with 87 recs)

Greg Palast: New York voting fiasco just the warm-up for the November game
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10911642

[greymouse]

7. I'm an older person

I've had a broken hip and two knee operations in the past two years. In order to vote by mail, I need a notarized signature or two witness signatures (I live by myself.)

Do you vote frequently or purge the rolls people want to guess how many people like me these rules disenfranchise?

[lostnfound]

11. Exactly. Lack of compassion and defensiveness

Stay strong

[Thinkingabout]

36. Did you vote by mail? Do you not have any contact with any people?

[greymouse]

39. to vote by mail

You need that notarized signature and two witnesses. I live in the boonies, with only one neighbor occasionally here. I suppose I could ask the Peapod guy and show him my driver's license, but my understanding is he has to witness my signature. It is hard to get two people here to do that at the same time.

The country is full of older people who live by themselves. You should see me try to round up someone to drive me to and from outpatient operations where the hospital will not let you take a cab.

We are invisible, basically.

[Thinkingabout]

9. If a voter does not vote for several years you will be purged, this has happened

For years. In most states there is notification sent by mail and requires attention from the voter. With the voter turnout in 2010 and 2012 the determination of purging happens. How do you prevent getting purged from voter registration, by voting regularly.

[sulphurdunn]

12. Didn't this guy vote in 2012 for Obama?

That was 4 years ago, so he could only have failed to vote in the midterm election. Why would anyone bother verifying the residency of people who voted in the last presidential election but didn't vote in the following midterm? I would be curious to see if there is a pattern to where these notifications are sent. I wounder if many find their way to the Upper East Side. I also doubt the election board sends letters to all eligible voters in NY who didn't vote in the midterm election.

[zalinda]

16. My son didn't vote

in the last 2 or 3 elections and he was not purged. Maybe it was just NYC or because of his English sounding name.

Z

[pnwmom]

19. We have at least minor elections at least every year. So not voting for 4 years means several

missed elections. (I'm including things like school levies, referendums, state elections, etc.)

[Maraya1969]

25. I think most people don't even know when those elections are happening and have no idea about who to

vote for and just don't vote. I usually don't. Yet I am still a citizen and I am registered to vote and no one should have the right to take away my RIGHT TO VOTE.

[kristndem]

28. So What?

Many, many people only vote in presidential election years. This should not be a basis for purging them from the rolls.

[Thinkingabout]

37. Presidential elections happens every four years, in every state.

[Thinkingabout]

31. I don't know if he did, can one imagine voter registration where no one

Is purged?

[blackspade]

20. So, because voter suppression has been normalized....

This is just peachy with you?

[Maraya1969]

23. Please read #10 and #7

[unc70]

24. Why should they be purged that quickly?

From what I can tell, NY seems particularly quick to purge the voter rolls. What is their justification? Who benefits? Since even being marked as inactive apparently makes it difficult to vote, and because the cost of keeping people on the rolls is nothing, then what is going on? Is it even about national politics?

Even NC where I am, where things are pretty screwed up these days, does a much better job than NY.

Is the somewhat capricious maintainer of voter rolls left over from machine politics? The "machine" always knew if its voters were registered, had voted (and usually how), had received patronage, and managed every aspect closely. Infrequent voters were probably not within the machine, therefore vulnerable to purges because they only voted every four years or so.

Those helped or hurt by aggressive purges could be for the advantage of the two major parties or for factions within the parties?

Whatever happened last fall seems to be an egregious example of normal practices in NY.

Any thoughts from those who know NY?

[blackspade]

14. Whoever she is talking to is lying sack of shit.

Her father was obviously purged because of where he lives.

[liberalnarb]

26. They will do anything to keep people from voting.

[zebonaut]

33. This is how Clinton "won" New York