Letter angers voters ahead of election

WAVY TV

Updated: Nov 5, 2012 11:25 PM

HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — The night before the election, a letter detailing if a person voted in pervious elections is making it way into mailboxes and leaving people concerned. 

A Hampton woman who called WAVY.com woman says she's a private person. So private, she didn't want her face on camera, but says a Virginia based political group violated her privacy.

"I've never seen anything like it in my life," she told WAVY.com. "I think it's very intrusive when somebody takes it upon themselves to notify all my neighbors of what I'm doing."

Saturday, she got a letter in the mail from the non-partisan group Americans for Limited Government.

"We've conducted an audit of public voting records in your neighborhood and wanted to present you with findings of your past civic participation in your community." the letter read.

Document: Letter from Americans for Limited Government

The letter listed some of her neighbors and told her if they voted in the past two presidential elections.

"Why are you notifying all my neighbors of my voting history?" the woman asked. "Why are you letting me know their voting history?"

The information is a matter of public record and the letters are legal. What's not a matter of public record is showing who you voted for. The group claims they were sent out simply to encourage people to vote.

"I think if they were encouraging that would be one thing, but this is almost like coercion," she added.

"It's ridiculous," said Russ Gentry. "I just think that it's nobody's business whether someone voted or not."

Gentry lives next door and didn't get the mailer. Though he believes it shouldn't have been sent out, he doesn't care if his neighbors know if he's going to the polls.

"I don't want anybody knowing who I voted for, but the fact that I voted that's here nor there that's fine," Gentry added.

Similar letters went out to voters in 19 states.

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