In Bedford County, Virginia, Mo Morris got a voter registration form in the mail recently. Tim Morris opened the mail that day and decided to read the mail, although it was addressed to Mo. When he perused it, Mr. Morris was pretty surprised. It turns out that the application was sent to Mo by the Voter Participation Center, a nonprofit organization, which is apparently attempting to procure as many voters as possible.
It turns out that Mo is short for Mozart. Mozart was Tim’s pet dog and this would have been the first presidential election in which the canine has voted since he would have turned 19 this year. Unfortunately, Mo passed away two years ago so it is unlikely that he will be able to cast a vote.
When questioned, the Voter Participation Center admitted that they buy mailing lists from vendors. They stated that they try to check each name, but ‘some do fall through the cracks.’ Typically, they claim to send forms to minorities, young people, and unmarried women (as well as dogs, I guess).
The local Board of Elections said that since the Voter Participation Center is a private organization, it is unable to keep them from sending forms to anyone or anything they wish. It also said that it has received other complaints of a similar nature. As far as Tim Morris, he remains hopeful that few elections will be dependent on the canine vote.
June 26th, 2012 at 4:47 am
Somebody better call Nancy Pelosi or Eric Holder and let them know that Republicans are trying to suppress the vote of dogs.
June 26th, 2012 at 9:48 am
It’s interesting to watch voter suppression advocates turn a a non story into a plague of voter fraud.
Granted, a voter registration group buys bulk mailing lists and send them out accordingly. And by that definition, it somehow means that “In Virginia, dead dogs are potential voters”. No, Arriba, it does not. Not even close. Let’s look at this with the assumption that Mo isn’t instantly detected as a dog.
In Virginia, Mo the dog nor Kermit the frog can vote simply because someone mailed them an invite and said it’s okay. Mo would still have to use a DMV’s driver’s license/ID card application to indicate he/she would like to apply to register to vote or change voter information. If Mo’s a citizen of the United States and wishes to apply to register to vote, the dog would answer the citizenship and voter registration questions on the application with “Yes” and then be provided with a voter registration application to complete. Follow the instructions on the voter registration application carefully, Mo would then complete all boxes and provide complete information on the voter registration application and then sign and date the voter registration application.
Mo may also use the driver’s license/ID card application to change the mutt’s voter registration name or address. Or, Mo may use the separate driver’s license/ID card address change request form. That’s a pretty tall order for Mo, be him/her dead or alive. But Mo’s not done yet.
Mo’s not registered to vote until his/her voter registration application is approved by the local voter registrar. If approved, Mo should receive, within 30 days, a voter registration card showing the voting location and election district.
Even prior to the voter ID law changes, had Mo showed up without an ID, the dog would have had to sign an affidavit swearing to be a registered voter.
So no, dead dogs are not potential voters in Virginia. Nor have they ever been.
June 26th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Now I know why Democrat chicks look like dogs.
June 26th, 2012 at 2:33 pm
I just got a post card for being put on an automatic absentee ballot list in Michigan. All I have to do is write my name and address down on it. No proof that I exist, or am a citizen, etc.