Holy SNAP! Telling Applicants They Must Register to Vote! (Color of LAW?)

My wife just informed me that she was told by her SNAP counselor that if she didn't register and vote she would lose benefits. Is this a ploy by the Obama Admin to fish for more votes? I can only find stories that show the goverment suing states because they are not making an 'adequate attempt to offer voter registration' to beneficiaries. Are these workers getting urged to be more forceful, like Rick Perry and guardisil shots under color of law?

Buying votes is what I call it. This could be HUGE. Please help me find more information on this, ATS!

Federal Government Takes State to Court over Voter Registration Dispute

BATON ROUGE -- A federal lawsuit accusing two state agencies of failing to provide adequate voter registration services for people who get food stamps, disability payments and Medicaid will be fought in court, the state's chief elections officer said Tuesday.

Tony Avelar, Bloomberg NewsPeople stand in line at the Contra Costa County Workforce Services for their monthly debt cards and food stamps in Richmond, Calif., in 2009. The federal government has filed a lawsuit against two Louisiana agencies for failing to ask citizens who see or renew services for food stamps, disability and Medicaid if they wish to register to vote.
"That is the plan at this time," Secretary of State Tom Schedler said. "We feel we have" complied with the law.

The lawsuit was filed in the Baton Rouge-based U.S. Middle District Court and names as defendants Schedler; Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals Bruce Greenstein and his agency; and Ruth Johnson, secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services and her agency.

The lawsuit alleges that agency offices that grant public assistance have failed to regularly ask clients if they want to register to vote and give them forms to register.

"The voting process begins with registration, therefore it is essential that all citizens have unfettered access to voter registration opportunities," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

I think this would be a great idea if it applied to everyone that receives any form of money directly from the government. Whether it be medicare, social security, welfare, food stamps, or a multi million dollar contracts for services, make them participate. In the case of a large corporation, perhaps the CEO would have to prove they registered to vote. If the corporation doesn't have an American CEO, no money from the government.

Except that those recieving goverment dole are likely to vote for more government dole. It's called buying votes. The Obama Admin isn't telling people they have to vote, the government employees signing them up are.Much like Perry telling people it was the law to take a shot that killed people. It wasn't the law, but it sure got people to take a deadly shot.

reply to post by sbctinfantry


Last time I checked you could vote for whomever you want, if your person of interest is not on the ballot then write that person in.

I would think that more than likely your wife was told that by someone, who was instructed to ask her to register potential voters and colored it wrong. It makes absolute sense for people applying to be on assistance to be asked if they would like to register to vote. As those are the people that are most likely to not be registered. Not really different than them asking when you renew your drivers license. I personally feel that they should also be having registrations for the senior classes at every high school to those seniors that are eligible.

More than likely the person handling your wife's application was trying to make a point albeit ineffectually. That if she did not vote that someone could get in office and the result of which could be discontinuation of the assistance she is applying for. Which is not untrue.It does bring to light that if you are going to do voter registration in such places the staff should simply ask if they like to register or not and leave it at that. It is not their job to make a political slant to it, just simply do.

They actually just ask you to check a box that says either you are already registered, not interested at this time, or yes I would like to register. They are supposed to do this every time you go for wic, snap, or any other dcfs services.