Jennifer Odum, who's deceased toddler got one of the Koch's fake voter registration forms in North Carolina.
The Kochs' Americans for Prosperity must have decided they need to do some "voter information" in what's an
awfully tight race for governor in Illinois. According to the Daily Kos Elections Outlook, there's about a 4-point spread between Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn and Republican Bruce Rauner. Enter AFP to try to create a little chaos in the election. And like in North Carolina, where they sent
hundreds of thousands of fraudulent mailers, they're upsetting people by sending mailers to
their dead loved ones.
DECATUR – It's not uncommon for residents such as Maryilynn Baer to receive political mail before the general election.
But when recent letter came to her home that asked for her husband, Edgar, to re-register to vote before the November election, Baer was overwhelmed and upset.
Her husband had been dead since May.
“It was upsetting,” she said. “His name had already been taken off the voter registration list, and I sent the letter to (Macon County Clerk) Steve Bean and told him I had already notified him that Edgar had passed away.”
See, the mailer made it seem like it had one from County Clerk Bean. All over the state, people have been calling their county clerks to find out if they really do have to re-register, because all of the mailings from AFP are meant to look like they're coming from elections officials. They're also wondering why their dead relatives are getting these letters, because they're going to a lot of deceased people. Which means elections officials are having to make a lot of apologies, even though they're not responsible for the confusion. Says Shelby County Clerk Jessica Fox, "[w]e would never do anything, for lack of a better term, as tacky as to open up these old wounds."
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They don't know where AFP got the lists they're using, and AFP hasn't offered that information. Nor have they explained why they made the letters look so official. But that seems pretty clear—they're telling people they can't vote unless they re-register, and are hoping that the people receiving the letters (the ones who
aren't dead) believe it and end up not voting. And they call it "a 'long-term' way to get people involved in the political discussion." That's what all their voter suppression schemes are, I'm sure.
