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Tag : rock-the-vote

Rock The Vote Did NOT Leave 100,000 People Unregistered

Posted on: October 26, 2008 /
Comments: No comments /
Categories: brain leaks

Gothamist is unfortunately helping to spread the incorrect rumor that the New York Times started about Rock the Vote sending 100,000 voter registration forms to the wrong address. This is not true.

Excerpt from Rock the Vote’s press release today:

Today the New York Times printed a factually untrue story about Rock the Vote and young people’s efforts to register to vote.

Here are the facts: The New York State Board of Elections as well as the federal government’s Elections Assistance Commission, as recently as this morning, confirmed that Rock The Vote has handled the registration process in a correct and exemplary manner.

Recent investigations by our legal team have found that New York State is behind in processing as many as 35,000-40,000 forms as of earlier this week – not because they were sent to the wrong address as the New York Times suggests – but because they don’t have the people or the resources to get it done in a more timely way…

The real problem – which the New York Times should have reported – is that it appears that the New York State Board of Elections is behind in processing some voter registration forms.

Gothamist posted their update around 11am Saturday the 25th, a day after the New York Times story published on October 24th. Would it have hurt to contact Rock the Vote to get a statement from them? They already waited an entire day to post something on the Times story – it would have taken a second to fire off an email to Rock the Vote.

I hope Gothamist updates their entry with an edit that includes the facts.