Elderly voters may be the prey in a telephone scam that came to light during a recent meeting of the Lyon County Department of Aging Advisory Council.
Lyon County Clerk Karen Hartenbower alerted her office to the potential scam and issued a public warning on Monday against giving out information to the callers.
Although no such scam has been reported in Lyon County, Gary Devorak of the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging said told Hartenbower that it is happening in Kansas.
“There’s older citizens being called on the phone and told that something’s wrong with their voter registration,” Deputy Clerk Lanny Linebarger said, describing the scam this morning. “And for $1.95, they don’t have to worry about coming down to the courthouse. They can take it over the phone, if they’ll give ’em their credit card number. They’re preying on the elderly.”
Linebarger said that people who receive the calls should call the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department, 342-5545, or the Emporia Police Department, 343-4220.
“They’ll want to know all about it and take measures to help them out,” she said.
Linebarger emphasized that there are no problems with voter registration in Lyon County, and the callers appear to be after credit card numbers to use for their own benefit, not for the benefit of any voter.
“They’ve got your credit card number, then they go and do whatever — shop until they drop, I guess,” Linebarger said.
Potential voter numbers rose substantially, as the League of Women Voters registration drive ended on Oct. 20, and advance voting continues to keep employees busy in the clerk’s office.
The county now has a total of 19,564 registered voters.
“We just certified that to the state,” Linebarger said.
Unaffiliated voters dominate the numbers, with 5,967 people registered without declaring party affiliation, she said. Party registrations now total 8,213 for Republicans; 5,234, Democrats; 131, Libertarians; and 19, Reform party.
The number of new registrations cannot be determined, she said, because existing voters who had to change their registrations are included in the total. Registrations must be changed, for example, because of a name change or change of address.
As of this morning, 1,624 voters already had cast their ballots at the courthouse. Advance voting will continue until noon on Monday.
kseyetie (anonymous) says...
Watch out, folks! The election goblins are out, and not just on Halloween.
October 31, 2008 at 11:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )