Voter registration mailers sent from outside Florida causing confusion

Orlando, FL(FOX 35 Orlando) - Some voter registration mailers sent from a group outside of Florida are causing confusion for voters in Sunshine State. 

At the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office, have been workers fielding phone calls about the mailers. They blame the Voter Participation Center, or VPC, for the workload.  

"I took over 400 phone calls when this mailer went out and I had to deal with voters upset," explained Susan Scatliffe.

"Unfortunately, these mailers make it look like it’s coming from the elections office and is official election mail and it’s not," said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles.

Cowles said his friend received a mailer addressed to her dog.

"Again her dog’s name is out there on a list and many of us have pets. They’re using databases and not fact-checking the information it is a little disheartening," he added.

VPC released this statement from CEO Jessica Barba Brown:

"We’re so sorry to hear you received this letter in error. Unfortunately, there is no list of people who are not registered to vote, so the Voter Participation Center has to work to compare public voter records with commercially available data from multiple vendors. Thanks for flagging this, and for your patience as we looked into this matter for you. 

"It’s possible that you had already updated your voter registration records after a move, but that update is not yet reflected in our records given the often slow speed with which public data files are updated. It’s also possible this is a database error, which can happen when dealing with such large-scale mailings as the 9.1 million pieces of mail we sent in January.

"The mailers show voters “may" not be registered at a given address and encourages recipients to check their registration, which helps voters affirm their registration status and reminds them of the importance of voting.   We also encourage people to use unique codes on each piece of mail to report errors. Such errors comprise a fraction of a percent of our mail, but when they do happen, we are responsive and correct errors immediately. 

"Again, we apologize for sending you a mailing in error and appreciate you taking the time to reach out. Following up with people who move is very important for voter registration work. Our programming reaches what we call the Rising American Electorate: young people, people of color and unmarried women who comprise a majority of people who can vote, but who register and turn out to vote at lower rates than the national average. We know through survey research that 42% of people in the Rising American Electorate move between presidential election years, about twice the rate of people outside this group.

Overall, we run the most successful mail voter registration program in the country. More than 4.3 million people have applied to register through our programming, including more than 550,000 in Florida. This is pressing work because there are 5.6 million eligible people who can vote in Florida who are not yet registered, according to the U.S. Census, and 71% of them are members of the Rising American Electorate."

Cowles said many of the applications they receive through VPC end up being duplicated because people already registered to vote.

"We continue to have proof that their information is not correct, it’s not up to date and accurate."