Women's Voices: Calls weren't malicious

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:08:46 -0400

A board member of Women's Voices Women Vote says it did not mean to confuse voters.

In a statement sent to Dome today, William McNary says that the group has been trying to help unmarried women and other underrepresented voters get registered.

"There may have been mistakes made in this particular registration drive in North Carolina, but Women's Voices, Women Vote's motives were not malicious or intended in any way to confuse voters," he said in a statement.

Recent automated calls by the group to North Carolina voters have been criticized for violating state disclosure laws and creating confusion about voter registration. The Barack Obama campaign called the calls "extremely disturbing," and some bloggers noted connections to the Hillary Clinton campaign from Women's Voices staffers.

But McNary, who is black, noted that he has worked for get-out-the-vote efforts in the black community with the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and currently supports Obama for president.

"Given my candidate preference and my background and associations in voter registration efforts, I can say with great conviction, there was no effort to suppress or confuse African American voters, or any other voters in the state of North Carolina by Women's Voices, Women Vote," he said.

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Women's Voices: Calls weren't malicious