vote suppression

More illegal robocalls in Durham?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:35:29 -0400

A Durham voter got another odd robocall about voting.

Christina Headrick, a former reporter for the N&O, says she received a misleading call Sunday from a "woman with a professional sounding voice" about mail-in voting.

Here is what the woman said:

"Have you ever wondered how you can vote by mail? From the convenience of your own home? Your vote has never been more important than it is in this critical election year. And this is a great way to ensure your voice is heard. If you would like to vote by mail, please press 1. If not, hang up."

Absentee ballots must have been requested before last Tuesday and returned in the mail by 5 p.m. today. In short, there is no way that it would be helpful for anyone to receive information about mail-in voting yesterday.

She tried to look for a caller ID using *69, but the number was either out of the area or from a restricted caller. It is against state law for robocallers to not identify themselves.

She has notified elections watchdog Democracy North Carolina, which is asking Attorney General Roy Cooper and the State Board of Elections to look into the calls.

Vote by mail call

Women's Voices has strong ties to Clinton

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:06:42 -0400

The group behind the "Lamont Williams" calls has strong ties to Hillary Clinton.

According to research by the Center for Investigative Reporting, principals in Women's Voices Women Vote have given $34,800 to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or her political action committee since 2000, while only giving $3,600 to Barack Obama and $2,300 to John Edwards.

(In fairness, Obama did not run for U.S. Senate until 2004 and Edwards was not a national figure until his presidential campaign that year.)

The group's leadership have worked with the Clintons as well.

Founder Page Gardner served as the deputy political director for Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, Joe Goode was a pollster for him, Mimi Mager served as a member of the Clinton transition team and John Podesta was chief of staff to President Clinton.

There are some non-Clinton connections, too, including Obama supporters William McNary and Todd Webster and Edwards supporter Chris Dresser.

Asked by The Insider about the connections earlier this week, Clinton's state organizer Ace Smith acted offended.

"You're asking me about something that has nothing to do with our campaign," he said. "This is getting to conspiracy talk."

Hat Tip: Facing South

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.

Cooper: Robocalls were illegal

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:38:02 -0400

Attorney General Roy Cooper said the "Lamont Williams" calls were illegal.

In a statement, the attorney general said that automated calls from Women's Voices Women Vote that encouraged voters to mail in voter registration forms after the state's deadlines violated state law by failing to disclose who sponsored the call or give contact information.

"Regardless of the motivation, the robo-calls violated the law and they needed to stop," Cooper said in a statement.

The organization told the attorney general's office today that the calls would stop. Cooper's office did not say if the group would face any sanctions for making the calls.

Cooper also urged political parties and campaigns to honor the Do Not Call Registry, although it does not currently cover political robocalls. He encouraged voters with concerns to call the state's telemarketing hotline, 1-877-5-NO-SCAM.

Update: Cooper spokewoman Jennifer Canada said the attorney general's office will continue to investigate the calls before deciding on any sanctions.

Obama: Robocalls 'extremely disturbing'

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:09:35 -0400

The Barack Obama campaign said the "Lamont Williams" calls were "extremely disturbing."

In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, legal counsel Bob Bauer said that recent robocalls by Women's Voices Women Vote to North Carolina voters fit "the classic model of voter suppression" by introducing confusion just before an election.

But he stopped short of saying that the calls were designed to suppress votes, noting that the group said that the calls were not meant to be misleading.

"They have said it's inadvertent and I understand it will not happen again," he said.

He said the group has pledged to cooperate with state regulators and apologized for the mistakes, so the Obama campaign does not see any reason to push for legal action.

Still, Bauer said that the Obama campaign will have "no tolerance" for voter suppression efforts in the future and is encouraging voters to report them on its Web site.

D.C. group behind robocalls

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:28:37 -0400

A Washington-based nonprofit is behind the "Lamont Williams" calls.

According to Facing South, a staffer for Women's Voices Women Vote admitted that it was behind recent robocalls that gave misleading information about voter registration.

The State Board of Elections has been looking for the source of the calls.

The nonprofit told the Institute for Southern Studies, which runs the Facing South blog, that the calls were part of a 24-state effort to register unmarried women. But the calls do not mention the group's name, they come from an unlisted number and they are misleading.

The calls tell voters to look for a voter-registration packet in the mail, but they were made after the deadline passed in North Carolina for mail-in registration.

Complaints have been made in Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona about similarly misleading calls.

"The reports from other states are very disturbing, especially the pattern of mass confusion among targeted voters on the eve of a state's primary," Democracy North Carolina's Bob Hall told Facing South.

Lamont also called in Ohio, Virginia

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:30:17 -0400

"Lamont Williams" also made calls in Ohio.

The bogus robocaller — currently being hunted by the State Board of Elections for giving misinformation to black voters in North Carolina — also made calls in Ohio last year, according to Facing South.

Chris Kromm, executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies, found the connection with help from a reader:

Facing South has learned that these calls -- even down to the name of the supposed caller -- are very similar to calls used last year in Ohio. In November 2007, a voter in Columbus, Ohio wrote in to the Buckeye State Blog with this eerily familiar story:
I just got a weird robo-call that I suspect may be a form of voter suppression, albeit kinda braindead. From memory, a stentorian voice reminiscent of James Earl Jones says: "Hello. This is Lamont Williams. In a few days you should be getting a voter registration form in the mail. Please fill it out and return promptly and you will be able to vote. Thank you.

Update: Voters also received similar calls in Virginia.