Mercer clerk: Don't pay when you sign up to vote

Reprinted from the Trenton Times
Tuesday July 08, 2008

The Mercer County clerk is warning potential new voters to avoid a website that offers to register voters for a fee, even though voter registration is a free government service.

Clerk Paula Sollami-Covello said IWantToVote.com offers online voter registration services for a fee of $9.95. A customer submits personal information to the website and receives back a filled-out form that he must mail to the state.

"This is a waste of money," Sollami-Covello said in a press release. "No voter needs to pay ten dollars to a private Internet company to register to vote."

"It is regretful that a company would charge unknowing new voters, especially those in our Internet-savvy student populations, by offering a simple form that exists at the Mercer County Clerk's office for free," she said.

The website, reportedly based in Oklahoma, says it is comparable to a tax service and charges a fee to pay for the site's "technology," which it says makes registering to vote easier and saves time.

Sollami-Covello said applications for voter registration can be obtained for free from the county clerk, superintendent of elections, municipal clerks, Division of Motor Vehicle offices and other state agencies.

They are also available online under the clerk's section. The registrant can print the form and send the hard copy in for processing, free of any charges or fees.

New voters may call the clerk's office at (609) 989-6495 to have a voter registration form mailed to them.

The registration deadline to vote in the upcoming Presidential election is Oct. 15.