When New York City computerized its voter rolls over the past decade and a half, election workers had to assign some birth dates to those age-shy voters who had chosen to list their age as 21-plus — in the years before voters had to list their birth dates. They decided Jan. 1, 1850 was a nice, round number.
As the New York Post reported yesterday, this decision has left the city with 850 164-year-old voters this year. Officials have been trying to get these voters — geezers in the view of the law, if not reality — to update their birth date, but have been mostly ignored (these people really do not want anyone to know how old they are). The city plans to try chasing down these voters after this election cycle, we assume by looking at wherever aspiring relics celebrating their sesquicentennial on the voter rolls congregate — Civil War re-enactments or Ken Burns talks, perhaps.