Only a few more days of this…
Like everyone else, I am SO ready to quit receiving sleazy campaign ads. Gah. I’ve taken them straight from the mailbox to the shredder.
Did anyone else get a creepy letter from The Voter Participation Center shaming them in to voting? Part of the letter says:
Who you vote for is private, but whether or not you vote is public record.
We’re sending this to you and your neighbors to share who does and does not vote in an effort to promote election participation. While we have hidden the name and street number of your neighbors to protect their identity, these are their true voting records.
Then it showed a chart of my name and address, and my neighbors’ names and addresses with identifying info blocked out, and whether we’ve voted in the last four general elections.
The letter also promised to review whether I voted or not, and that they may call me to ask about my voting experience and why I did not vote, if I chose not to.
Voting is important. People should vote. But trying to shame me in to doing so by comparing me to my neighbors? Eff off.
And don’t call me.
Sigh.
Anyway.
We voted early, by mail-in ballot. We’d go next Tuesday, but we have important plans that night – we’re seeing Bohemian Rhapsody!
Apollo voted to amend the constitution to include more fish for all cats
Themocracy
Wow, those are some really sleazy messages. I am glad we don’t watch TV (or listen to the radio) anymore because I always hate the smear campaign ads. They must work because they keep playing them, but I always wonder who is convinced by that kind of rhetoric. It’ll be over by the time you get arrive in SF!
Steven was sitting at the car dealership yesterday (for a service appt) and said that the only commercials playing on TV were those smear campaign ones and it was making him BONKERS. I always wonder who those work on too. All that “information” is garbage.
I voted early too, so now I have even less patience for the ads. That Voter Participation Center letter is so creepy.
It’s too bad we can’t “turn them off” once we vote! (or, ever)
It really is! And they sent me one for someone that used to live at my house too. Just going to shred it (without opening, I mean).
I don’t really watch TV anymore, so I’ve managed to avoid most of those ads, but earlier this year they were ALL over YouTube. It drove me crazy, especially because there only seemed to be two: Pritzker saying that Rauner doesn’t deserve to be governor because he’s too rich, and Rauner saying Pritzker doesn’t deserve to be governor because he’s too rich *rolls eyes* Pot, meet kettle.
I haven’t gotten *too* many mailed ads, but the ones I’ve gotten have all made me mad. I got one that looked like it was about voting by mail, but it was actually from Pritzker, not the election bureau. I thought that was sleazy. I also think it’s sleazy when my alderman sends me a mailer with his “approved” candidates, complete with a reminder that I can bring the mailer into the voting booth with me. Even when his approved candidates are the ones I want to vote for, I don’t think he should be telling me who he/the Democrats of the whatever ward I live in should be voting for. That Voter Participation Center one you got is terrible!!
Oh yeah! Steven was telling me they’re on YouTube! (We don’t watch TV too or really listen to the radio, so the most of our harassment was in mail, ha). And OMG. They might as well just run the same campaign and switch out the names!
YES! Aren’t those ones super sleazy?! When you buy a house you get lots of stuff like that too – made to look official but it’s not. That’s scary stuff.
Approved candidates. Eyeroll. Just call it what it is – THEIR PREFERRED CANDIDATES. Sigh.
Election campaigns are so bad in the US – I hate being there when it’s in full swing, it’s so obnoxious. I’m actually flying in for two weeks on Monday – so I’ll be subjected to hearing all the fallout, but at least I’ll be spared the ads.
You picked the perfect time to come in 😉 Are you going to TX?
Yes, TX and Oklahoma, actually (my best friend and her family – her son is my godson – moved there this summer – which is great because it’s only a 3 hour drive from my mom’s). And on the way I get a 24 hour stopover in Iceland! Long story, but the airline changed my flights and so now I am staying one night in a hotel in Reykjavik and will have a chance to see what it’s like there. Kind of exciting!
Oh yay! That will be nice to see both family and friends!
Ooooo! That IS exciting! I know so many people who’ve gone there recently! What will you do with your 24 hours?!
I’m soooooooo sick of getting election mail. I wish there was a way to say I’m already voting and just opt-out. Can’t you just tell these people you’re voting for Troy and be done with it? There is a somewhat important congressional race here and based on a special election in August our district seems to be split pretty evenly, so I get that it’s important to encourage people to vote, but geez. I don’t need several daily reminders, and I hate that these campaigns are wasting so much money, paper and resources.
Speaking of – the other day I got something in the mail for someone running in our old district back in IL. They got my address in Ohio and sent it to me, as if I’m still voting there. Again, such a waste!
I wish I could tell them that. Man, my hand hurt from writing his name over and over, but, WORTH IT.
Yes, yes, yes. It’s so important to vote. But don’t harass us, shame us, or waste so many resources. Junk mail already pisses me off, but this takes me over the edge.
Ha, I bet you could still vote here 😉
So my husband is the chair of our local democratic party so I totally see both sides of this. I do think campaigns spam people with mailers and that’s annoying but I phonebanking is super effective in reaching voters, especially during a midterm when most people don’t vote.
The letter about your voter registration is super creepy though but I guess they are desparate to get out the vote! Either way, thank you for encouraging people to vote even though you’ve been spammed with too much lit. haha
Ahh, cool that he does that! I got a few texts and stuff too, asking me if I’d put a sign in my yard and asking me to vote. LOL, I also found that stuff annoying, but I understand it reaches a certain demographic! And it won’t deter me from voting! I really hope this ends up being our most highly participated election yet!
We voted by mail here in Utah. Nice to have that option. I mean, I love voting in person, but weather wise, it’s always crappy and cold, which deters people from going on. Early voting should be everywhere.
As for the mailed candidate ads, I recycle all of them, even the ones I am voting for. The robocalls are the worst. I screen any number that’s not in my phone, so sometimes they keep calling. I’ve had to resort to answering the phone “Internal Revenue Service, Jeff speaking” which gives the caller a bit of a pause.
YES! Early voting is great! And they make it so easy! I loved that I decided last week to do it and we got our ballots in just a few day’s time.
Ha! That is funny that you do that!!! You know, I am not sure if I got many of those, because I don’t typically answer numbers I don’t know!