When Tim Morris got his mail last week he found a pretty big surprise, a document asking his dog Mozart to register to vote.
Not only is Mozart a dog but he’s been dead for two years.
“I opened it up and looked at it and I just laughed,” Morris said. “I thought it was a joke at first but it turns out it’s real.”
The form is addressed to Mo, the family’s nickname for the dog.
What amazed Morris is that if Mozart was human he would have been eligible to vote for the first time in 2012.
“He would have been 19 years old this year and he passed away two years ago,” he said. “I still have no earthly idea how they got his information.”
10 On Your Side looked deeper and found that the voter registration forms were sent by the non-profit Voter Participation Center, not the State Board of Elections.
So we contacted the Voter Participation Center and found that they purchase mailing lists from vendors and while they do try and check every name, the organization admits that some do fall through the cracks.
The voter registration efforts are focused on groups like young people, minorities, and unmarried women.
This could help explain why the Morris’ dog Mozart didn’t receive a registration form until now, since he would have been 18.
The Board of Elections said they’ve received similar complaints but since the Voter Participation Center is a private organization they can’t stop them from sending voter registration forms.
As for Morris, he’s hopeful the problem can be controlled so animals like Mozart won’t be deciding elections anytime soon.
– From News Partner WSLS10 /
By: Aaron Martin