Kerby Anderson

A dead cat in Atlanta, Georgia was sent a voter registration form in the mail. That is unfortunate since only live dogs and cats should be registered to vote. I’m joking, but just barely. One journalist has documented that, “Pets, some named Mozart and Scampers have also received voter applications in Florida, Colorado, and Washington state.”

This is not a new phenomenon. Years ago, I had a commentary about all the false names used to register voters in a number of states. For example, the names of the entire starting line of the Dallas Cowboys were used to register people to vote in Nevada. And the addresses used in some of these fraudulent forms have been traced to restaurants and vacant lots.

The Georgia Secretary of State says the voter application for Cody the cat did not come from their office. Third party groups often use mailing lists to get names and addresses. But you can imagine what the cat’s owner, Ron Tims, thought when he checked his mailbox and found a registration card for Cody Tims. He was a great cat and lived more than 18 years, but he did not need to register to vote, especially since he passed away some time ago.

Obviously, I am having some fun here, but the issue is serious. Mail-in ballots along with massive voter registration mailings have all the potential for misuse and abuse. Any person could take the voter registration application for the dead cat and fill it out with the necessary information. And when stacks of voter registration applications are dumped on the desk of local officials, they simply don’t have the time to check all the names and addresses. Whoever decides to “become” Cody Tims would then show up with a voter registration card or even ask for a mail-in ballot.

The next time someone tells you that voter fraud is a myth and that mail-in ballot elections are safe, just remember this story of a dead cat receiving a voter registration form.