--- title: Group Is Threatening to Shame Pennsylvanians Who Don’t Vote description: Pennsylvania voters are reportedly receiving e-mails and letters with threats of public condemnation if they decline to head to the polls. canonical: https://time.com/5277651/pennsylvania-letters-threaten-non-voters/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-15T14:12:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:16:45.661Z article:section: Politics og:title: Group Threatening to Publicly Shame Pennsylvanians Who Don’t Vote og:description: "What if your friends, your neighbors, and your community knew whether you voted?" og:url: https://time.com/5277651/pennsylvania-letters-threaten-non-voters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt786723aeef9833c9/69892faa22fb85ff93e2589f/gettyimages-523068086.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Campaigns In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Group Threatening to Publicly Shame Pennsylvanians Who Don’t Vote twitter:description: "What if your friends, your neighbors, and your community knew whether you voted?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt786723aeef9833c9/69892faa22fb85ff93e2589f/gettyimages-523068086.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Mysterious Group Is Threatening to Publicly Shame Pennsylvanians Who Don’t Vote  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 15, 2018 2:12 PM UTC  Donald Trump supporters await the start of a rally with the Republican presidential hopeful at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center on April 21, 2016 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Donald Trump supporters await the start of a rally with the Republican presidential hopeful at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center on April 21, 2016 in Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaMark Makela—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 15, 2018 2:12 PM UTC Pennsylvania voters are reportedly receiving e-mails and letters with threats of public condemnation if they don’t head to the polls in Tuesday’s primary elections. According to the local Pennsylvania news site [Lancaster Online](https://lancasteronline.com/news/politics/mailers-attempt-to-embarrass-people-into-voting-by-revealing-voting/article%5Ff167eaa2-57aa-11e8-84fd-3317dec29e92.html), some voters in the Keystone state have recently been sent letters that lists whether they and their neighbors voted in past elections. “Why do so many people fail to vote? We’ve been talking about the problem for years, but it only seems to get worse. This year we’re taking a new approach,” reads the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Lancaster Online. “We’re sending this mailing to you, your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues at work, and your community members, to publicize who does and does not vote.” The letter subsequently states that additional information will be provided after Tuesday’s primary. The group sending the letters is called the Pennsylvania State Voter Program. Randall Wenger, the Chief Clerk of the Lancaster County Board of Elections, told Lancaster Online that the letters had surfaced in seven counties, including Lancaster, and that his office had been “inundated” with calls after people received them. While some recipients have said the letters feel invasive, voter rolls – including who voted – are a matter of public record in Pennsylvania and many other states. The Pennsylvania Department of State said voters in other states have received similar letters, according to Lancaster Online, leading them to think this is a nationwide effort. Tuesday’s primaries in Pennsylvania are the first state-wide elections with a new Congressional map, which was reworked by the state’s Supreme Court following a gerrymandering lawsuit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5277651/pennsylvania-letters-threaten-non-voters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5277651/pennsylvania-letters-threaten-non-voters/"},"headline":"A Mysterious Group Is Threatening to Publicly Shame Pennsylvanians Who Don’t Vote","datePublished":"2018-05-15T14:12:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:16:45.661Z","description":"\"What if your friends, your neighbors, and your community knew whether you voted?\"","url":"https://time.com/5277651/pennsylvania-letters-threaten-non-voters/","keywords":["2018 Midterm Elections","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt786723aeef9833c9/69892faa22fb85ff93e2589f/gettyimages-523068086.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt786723aeef9833c9/69892faa22fb85ff93e2589f/gettyimages-523068086.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania","caption":"Donald Trump Campaigns In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania","creditText":"Mark Makela—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2018-midterm-elections/","name":"2018 Midterm Elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5277651/pennsylvania-letters-threaten-non-voters/","name":"A Mysterious Group Is Threatening to Publicly Shame Pennsylvanians Who Don’t Vote"}}]}] ```