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Voter caging
Voter caging is a colloquial term used in the United States referring to a campaign activity used to remove, or attempt to remove, targeted voters from official lists of registered voters. It occurs when a non-governmental organization, such as a political party or a campaign, sends first-class mail to registered voters, in order to compile a so-called "challenge list" of the names of those whose letters are returned undelivered. The fact that the mail was returned as undeliverable may be seen as either proof, or strong evidence of, the person no longer residing at the address on their voter registration. The challenge list is presented to election officials with the suggestion that the officials should purge these names from the voter registration rolls or to challenge voters' eligibility to vote on the grounds that the voters no longer reside at their registered addresses.
The phrase "voter caging" came about as a metaphorical extension of the benign term "caging" that is used in the direct mail industry.
In the United States, official government election offices are required to periodically maintain and update their lists of registered voters, also known as voter rolls. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Fair Fight Action periodically take to the courts to challenge the methods used by official government election offices to maintain the rolls. Some voter roll maintenance tactics are prohibited by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Voter caging refers to the practice of sending mail to addresses on the voter rolls, compiling a list of the mail that is returned undelivered, and using that list to challenge voters' registrations and votes on the grounds that the voters on the roll do not legally reside at their registered addresses.
More concretely, a political party or campaign will send out non-forwardable, first-class mail to voters or particular voters they want to target (often assumed to be a demographic that belongs to the opposing party). It will compile a list of voters for whom mail has been returned as undeliverable. The list is called a caging list. First-class mail marked as non-forwardable has resulted in a rate of return (returned and marked undeliverabl) as high as one return for every fifteen letters sent out. The so-called "caging list" that is the compiled names of all those for whom the envelopes were returned, marked undeliverable, can then be presented by the political party or campaign to election officials, with a request that the election officials should proceed to purge those people from the list of registered voters, or at a minimum, take a second look at whether the voter still resides at the address of registration. Election officials are not required to remove names based on having been presented with a caging list.
When a voter turns out to vote, who has been identified as no longer living at the address on their voter registration, election officials at the polling place may challenge their registration and require them to cast a provisional ballot. If investigation of the provisional ballot demonstrates that the voter has just moved or there is an error in the address and the voter is legally registered, the vote would then be counted. Opponents of this practice say that it is an unreliable method for determining whether a voter is ineligible to vote.
Actions of the Ballot Security Task Force in New Jersey in 1981 are believed to be the first wide-scale use of voter caging as a campaign tactic. The RNC sent letters to predominantly-black neighborhoods in New Jersey in 1981. When 45,000 letters were returned as undeliverable, the RNC compiled a challenge list to remove those voters from the rolls. The RNC additionally sent off-duty law enforcement officials to the polls and hung posters in heavily black neighborhoods warning that violating election laws is a crime. Believing that these tactics violated the Voting Rights Act, the Democratic National Committee took the RNC to federal court. Rather than see the case fully litigated, the RNC entered a consent decree, which prohibited the party from engaging in anti-fraud initiatives that targeted minorities from conducting mail campaigns to "compile voter challenge lists".
In Louisiana in 1986, the RNC tried to have 31,000 voters, mostly black, removed from the rolls when a party mailer was returned. Again, the action was successfully challenged in federal court.
Hub AI
Voter caging AI simulator
(@Voter caging_simulator)
Voter caging
Voter caging is a colloquial term used in the United States referring to a campaign activity used to remove, or attempt to remove, targeted voters from official lists of registered voters. It occurs when a non-governmental organization, such as a political party or a campaign, sends first-class mail to registered voters, in order to compile a so-called "challenge list" of the names of those whose letters are returned undelivered. The fact that the mail was returned as undeliverable may be seen as either proof, or strong evidence of, the person no longer residing at the address on their voter registration. The challenge list is presented to election officials with the suggestion that the officials should purge these names from the voter registration rolls or to challenge voters' eligibility to vote on the grounds that the voters no longer reside at their registered addresses.
The phrase "voter caging" came about as a metaphorical extension of the benign term "caging" that is used in the direct mail industry.
In the United States, official government election offices are required to periodically maintain and update their lists of registered voters, also known as voter rolls. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Fair Fight Action periodically take to the courts to challenge the methods used by official government election offices to maintain the rolls. Some voter roll maintenance tactics are prohibited by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Voter caging refers to the practice of sending mail to addresses on the voter rolls, compiling a list of the mail that is returned undelivered, and using that list to challenge voters' registrations and votes on the grounds that the voters on the roll do not legally reside at their registered addresses.
More concretely, a political party or campaign will send out non-forwardable, first-class mail to voters or particular voters they want to target (often assumed to be a demographic that belongs to the opposing party). It will compile a list of voters for whom mail has been returned as undeliverable. The list is called a caging list. First-class mail marked as non-forwardable has resulted in a rate of return (returned and marked undeliverabl) as high as one return for every fifteen letters sent out. The so-called "caging list" that is the compiled names of all those for whom the envelopes were returned, marked undeliverable, can then be presented by the political party or campaign to election officials, with a request that the election officials should proceed to purge those people from the list of registered voters, or at a minimum, take a second look at whether the voter still resides at the address of registration. Election officials are not required to remove names based on having been presented with a caging list.
When a voter turns out to vote, who has been identified as no longer living at the address on their voter registration, election officials at the polling place may challenge their registration and require them to cast a provisional ballot. If investigation of the provisional ballot demonstrates that the voter has just moved or there is an error in the address and the voter is legally registered, the vote would then be counted. Opponents of this practice say that it is an unreliable method for determining whether a voter is ineligible to vote.
Actions of the Ballot Security Task Force in New Jersey in 1981 are believed to be the first wide-scale use of voter caging as a campaign tactic. The RNC sent letters to predominantly-black neighborhoods in New Jersey in 1981. When 45,000 letters were returned as undeliverable, the RNC compiled a challenge list to remove those voters from the rolls. The RNC additionally sent off-duty law enforcement officials to the polls and hung posters in heavily black neighborhoods warning that violating election laws is a crime. Believing that these tactics violated the Voting Rights Act, the Democratic National Committee took the RNC to federal court. Rather than see the case fully litigated, the RNC entered a consent decree, which prohibited the party from engaging in anti-fraud initiatives that targeted minorities from conducting mail campaigns to "compile voter challenge lists".
In Louisiana in 1986, the RNC tried to have 31,000 voters, mostly black, removed from the rolls when a party mailer was returned. Again, the action was successfully challenged in federal court.