Big Greater Wisconsin Political Fund Is Watching You

Ann Althouse opened her mail and got a surprise:

I obscured names and addresses, but be assured, this was a list of real names and addresses of people who live near me, with the information about whether they voted in the last 2 elections. This is an effort to shame and pressure people about voting, and it is truly despicable. 

You can see the letter she received at the link. The verbiage reads as follows:

Dear Registered Voter:


Who votes is public record!


Why do so many people fail to vote? We've been talking about the problem for years, but it only seems to get worse. This year, we're taking new approach. We're sending this mailing to you and your neighbors to publicize who does and who does not vote.


We need to all pull together. The chart shows the names of some of your neighbors, showing which have voted in the past.


After the June 5th election, public records will tell everyone who voted and who didn't.


Do your civic duty -- vote.


The sender was the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund, which has been an active participant in the recall election. Althouse is not amused:

Your vote is private, you have a right not to vote, and anyone who tries to shame and an harass you about it is violating your privacy, and the assumption that I will become active in shaming and pressuring my neighbors is repugnant. 

As it should be. So why would this lefty organization send this note? Besides the reasons Althouse mentions, I can think of two more:

• You can do a lot with database management tools these days and it would certainly interest the public employee unions if they were to cross-check their membership records with the voting rolls to find out who has been, ahem, naughty or nice.
• It would also be handy for an enterprising individual who wanted to, ahem, extend his franchise a bit, to know which households don't participate in voting, especially if (a) you have same-day registration, (b) you don't ask for i.d., (c) you allow vouching, and (d) you don't have a provisional ballot procedure in place. That would be the state of play in Wisconsin at the moment, since judges have ruled against the voter i.d. laws that passed earlier. And by the by, it's the same state of play we have in Minnesota.

I would disagree with Althouse on one point. It's always worth understanding that while you can claim a right to privacy, you really don't have any privacy any more, especially if you participate in any way in the electronic, interconnected world that we inhabit. All manner of people are keeping dossiers of you and they can tell rather a lot about how you live your life based on the records you generate every day. Most of these people are simply trying to sell you stuff. And that would include the politicians, for the most part. But there is something especially creepy about this little missive. You don't always have to imply a threat. And in this case, the threat is pretty overt.