GREENSBORO, N.C. — The numbers get your attention: 11,000 pre-filled voter registration applications mailed out and they were wrong. There were wrong names, wrong addresses, and wrong dates of birth on those registration applications.
How did this happen?
Let's start with the company behind the mailers, Civitech. The company, according to its own website,
“…..helps candidates, activists, governments with materials to help with registering to vote and requesting vote by mail ballots”
These types of third-party mailers are legal.
Why was the information wrong?
The short answer according to Civitech and their printing company is that
an error occurred during the digital processing of the data to the forms.
How do they get your info anyway?
We looked at their FAQ page for the answer. According to Civitech,
….the mailings are produced using publicly available records to identify people who are likely unregistered at their current address.
Some of the information is from the state's voter file and other sources like a list of public college students or public directories. Individual's name, address, and dob are a part of states' voter file, which is a public record.
The company estimates those 11,000 incorrect mailers were just .3% of all their mailings in our state.
What should you do about it?
If you got one of these incorrect forms, throw it out. The company says it is working to send out corrected mailers to those 11,000 voters. They're also sending a text alert to them.
“With a month before the election, voters are likely to see an increase in election-related mailings,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “Carefully review these mailings, and please remember that accurate information about the elections process, including how to register to vote, and how to check your voter registration status, are available at NCSBE.gov.”
The deadline to register is this Friday, October 9.