Since when did we start telling grown adults for who to vote?

LANSING — The postcard looked friendly enough, with cartoon images of a Model T, cherries and pine trees inside an outline of the Mitten state and an encouraging message urging Michigan to “vote!”

But Leslie Figueroa was startled when she read the back.

“Who you vote for is a secret, but whether you vote is public information,” the postcard author told her. “After the election on Tues. Nov. 3, local organizations may follow up with you on your voting record.”

“I thought it was a threat,” said Figueroa.

The postcard included a paid-by disclaimer from the Indivisible Chicago Alliance, a liberal group that this fall organized a volunteer mail campaign to try to boost voter turnout in Michigan and Wisconsin.

But Figueroa, an Ann Arbor Democrat, said she initially feared it might be disinformation designed to discourage her from voting instead.

“I always vote, so they were threatening the wrong person, and I wasn’t even sure what they were trying to accomplish,” she said. “In my mind it was almost like reverse psychology.”

The postcard is an example of what experts call “social pressure” mail that can shock recipients but is considered effective and is being widely employed this year by third-party organizations seeking to boost voter turnout in battleground states like Michigan. - Bridge Michigan

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