Wisconsin Residents May Get Unsolicited Voter Registration Forms with the Wrong Information
Monday, January 27th, 2020 -- 11:47 AM
(WRN) -A number of Wisconsin residents are getting unsolicited voter registration forms in the mail with outdated or incorrect information on them.In the wake of a lawsuit looking to purge Wisconsin's voting rolls, a group has been sending sometimes incorrect voter registration papers to Wisconsin Residents. The mailers come from something called the Voter Participation Center. Wisconsin elections commission spokesperson Reid Magney says this group tries to match up mailing list information to voter information.
"There's commercial mailing lists all over that people can buy if they want to sell you stuff, and sometimes groups think that's also a good way to reach voters or potential voters."
Magney says the algorithms that the groups use aren't perfect, which means poorly formatted registration forms are sent out.
"You know, is it North Third Street or Third Street North? Is there an apartment number or not an apartment number? Some of those things can trip up data matching programs."
Magney says most of the time these are not malicious errors, but rather mix ups in data matching software.
"These groups are going to be trying to contact people, they're trying to be helpful, sometimes they get the information wrong."
Magney says the best way to find out if you're registered to vote is to check online at My Vote dot W I dot Gov.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.