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They’re back: Voter Participation Center sending letters again to Pa. addresses

A ham-handed effort to boost voter registration

  • Russ Walker
The envelope received by this author at his home in Lancaster. (PA Post).

 PA Post

The envelope received by this author at his home in Lancaster. (PA Post).

The impeachment trial in our nation’s capital took a turn with Sunday’s news that former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s new book contradicts President Trump’s denials about the alleged Ukraine quid pro quo. Enter Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania’s junior senator, who is reported by The Washington Post to be working on a compromise that would allow House impeachment managers to call one fact witness (Bolton) in return for the president’s defense team being given the same right to call a witness of their choosing. Toomey isn’t quoted in The Post story. He hasn’t said anything publicly (at least that I could find) about his one-for-one proposal. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s senior senator, Democrat Bob Casey, is tweeting out video updates on the trial. — Russ Walker, PA Post editor
VPC Mailer

PA Post

The envelope received by this author at his home in Lancaster. (PA Post).

Did you recently receive a piece of mail with “Voter Registration Form Enclosed – Do Not Discard” printed on the front?

I did. And when I opened it, I read a letter advising that no one at my current address is registered to vote. The mailer included a Pennsylvania voter registration form and a postage-paid envelope to be mailed to my local county elections office.

These letters were sent by a nonprofit organization called The Voter Participation Center, a group that says it wants to boost registration, especially among underrepresented groups like minorities and women.

The group’s letters have been reported in Pennsylvania and other states going back to 2012. Nearly every time they pop up, news outlets report on the resulting confusion among voters.

The envelope pictured above (and the letter posted here) was sent to me a few weeks back, despite the fact that I’ve been registered to vote in Pa. since August.

Given it’s official-looking labeling and urgent text, it’s easy to see how some recipients might be concerned, either that they are no longer registered or that they are being targeted by some sort of scam.

The Lancaster County Elections office told me they have received plenty of calls in recent weeks about the letter, mainly from people who know full well they were registered and were angry that the letter suggested otherwise.

The registration material included with the letter is genuine. If an unregistered but eligible person mails it in, he or she will be registered. If already registered, the county elections office won’t take any action (though they may update your address if that’s changed).

The Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections statewide, said it’s ”not uncommon for various groups or organizations to encourage voter participation through such mailings.”

The VPC letter encourages recipients to check their voter registration status on Pennsylvania’s official site — votespa.com/status. And that’s the advice I got from elections officials. If you have any doubts about your voter registration, check that site, or call the state voter hotline at 877-868-3772. If you don’t want to receive VPC mailers any longer, you can opt out on the group’s website.

So what is The Voter Participation Center and who funds it? First, VPC is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC. While not officially part of either political party, the VPC is aligned with Democrats, part of a constellation of liberal groups working to increase turnout (there are plenty of groups like it working the conservative side as well).

In 2016, the VPC raised and spent around $14 million. The organization doesn’t disclose its donors, and its its tax filings say little about who’s writing the checks (though it contracts with The Bonner Group on fundraising, and Bonner has a long history of raising money from well-heeled progressive donors). This report from a right-leaning investigative journalism outfit has more history about VPC and lists some of its donors.

With the election year just now getting started, you can bet we’ll see lots more mailers targeting voters — some helpful, some not so much. If you receive any sort of political mail, we’d love to see it. Take a photo of the mail and send it to me at rwalker@papost.org.

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Matt Slocum / The Associated Press

In this file photo, a farmer cuts a field as a horse-drawn cart heads down a county road in Lancaster County. (Matt Slocum / AP Photo)

  • On Jan. 17, Context readers were pointed to a powerful investigative story published by Cosmopolitan about sexual abuse of children within Amish communities in Pa. and elsewhere. Today, we’re pointing out some excellent reporting by LNP into unlicensed “treatment centers” where Amish and other Plain sect members accused of sexual abuse are sent — and in one case, a man accused of raping four girls was allowed to leave the county to live at one of the centers while he awaited trial. Are Plain folk given special treatment by prosecutors? Read Hurubie Meko’s piece here.

  • The Cosmo article sparked a follow-up story by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Peter Smith about the help being offered to Amish and Mennonite victims of sexual abuse by individuals and groups from across Pennsylvania.

  • Holocaust survivors from the Philly area were at Auschwitz in Poland yesterday for Holocaust Rememberance Day. The Inquirer’s Jason Nark filed this piece from Oswiecim, Poland (h/t to @CongBoyle for tweeting out the link).

  • Fracking, it would appear, is the “third rail” of Pennsylvania politics. The New York Times’s Lisa Friedman and Shane Goldmacher wrote a long piece about concerns among Democrats they could lose the state again this year if the nominee supports a ban on fracking. At least two leading Democrats — Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — support a ban. Even gas industry critics like Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto think a candidate running on a ban fracking platform is a bad idea. “If a candidate comes into this state and tries to sell that policy, they’re going to have a hard time winning,” the mayor said. Read the piece.

  • In Monday’s newsletter, Emily Previti noted the debate in one Lancaster County community over banning gun shops (and signage) within school zones. Last night, Manheim Township commissioners voted 4-1 to reject the proposed ordinance. LNP’s Jeff Hawkes has the story.

  • Pa. House Speaker Mike Turzai is backing Rob Mercuri in the race to succeed him as the 28th District’s representative in Harrisburg. Mercuri is a West Point grad, an Iraq War veteran and currently works in finance. He’ll face Emily Skopov, who ran a strong race against Turzai in 2018.

  • Vice President Mike Pence, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway will campaign in Camp Hill next Wednesday (Feb. 5). According to a Trump campaign release, the high-powered trio will headline a Woman for Trump event scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel. Earlier in the day, Pence will be at a school choice event in Philadelphia.


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