A longtime mid-Missouri county clerk says a mailer that has gone statewide is troubling to some Missouri voters.
Veteran Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren (D) is warning Missourians about a mailer which says they are not registered to vote.
“My concern is that some people will believe this thing who are valid registered voters, and will not vote because they’ve been told they aren’t registered and they don’t get registered,” Noren says.
The mailing is from the Washington D.C.-based “Voter Participation Center”. Noren says the group uses commercial mailing lists and tries to match those to the state voter database to determine who is not registered.
“They’ve also sent it to people who are deceased, who are underage,” Noren says. “In some states, we’ve heard they’ve been sending them to pets.”
Noren says residents are concerned.
“They have our return address on it, so the voters think it’s coming from us, and it’s very upsetting to people. They’re telling them (residents) they have to register to vote. And people are calling us,” Noren says.
Noren, who has served as Boone County Clerk since 1982, encourages voters who receive the letter to call her Columbia office at (573) 886-4375.
The Voter Participation Center has posted a press release on its website, which says it is “immediately” mailing postcards to 95,000 Missourians with the correct October 12 registration deadline. The previous mailer incorrectly said it was October 17.
That press release, however, does not explain why letters have been mailed to deceased voters and pets. The group has not returned Missourinet’s phone call yet, seeking comment on this story.
