Women's Voices Women Vote

Robocall cost group $100,000

bniolet — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:43:19 -0400

A nonprofit group that launched an illegal robocall just before this year's primary election will have to pay $100,000 in penalties, Attorney General Roy Cooper announced Tuesday.

The group, Women's Voices Women Vote, launched the call which told voters they would soon receive voter registration forms in the mail, according to a news release. But the deadline to register for the primary had passed. The call didn't include information about who made the call, so confused voters couldn't get clarification.

Cooper's announcement seemed aimed at those launching their own robocalls now.

"My office takes quick action against robocalls that don't strictly follow the law," Cooper said, adding that he believes robocallers should honor the Do Not Call Registry, which stops telemarkers, but not campaigns from calling. "If you get illegal telemarketing calls, let my office know about it."

Women's Voices Women Vote will pay $100,000 in civil penalties. The money will go to North Carolina schools. The group has agreed to stay out of the election in North Carolina. Before it can resume political activity, it must give Cooper's office a written description of how it would comply with state law.

Cooper said anyone receiving an illegal robocall or telemarketing pitch can call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM.

Update: In a news release, Women's Voices Women Vote said that the group acknoledges it violated the law, but that the calls were meant to encourage participation and that the group's name was mistakenly left off the robocalls.

"It was not our intention that the robocalls or our mailings cause any comfusion as to whether any individual was already registered to vote," Page Gardner, president of the grop said in a news release. "Our effort was squarely aimed at encouraging registration of underrepresented voters in North Carolina for the upcoming general election."

NAACP wants robo calls investigated

bkrueger — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:48:10 -0400

The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP wants an aggressive investigation into recent automated calls it suspects are meant to confuse voters and suppress the black vote.

Rev. William Barber II, president of the state’s NAACP chapter, sent a complaint Saturday to N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper that outlines information the group has gathered about Women's Voices Women Vote — the group behind the robo calls, reports Titan Barksdale.

The calls tell voters to expect a voter-registration packet in the mail, but the calls were made after the deadline for registration in North Carolina. A man who identifies himself as Lamont Williams provides the misinformation.

“We want this taken very seriously,” Barber said. “[The calls] are a danger to our democracy and a danger to what’s best about this country.”

Cooper has said the calls are illegal because they did not disclose who sponsored the call or give contact information about their source.

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

Jennifer Canada, a spokeswoman for Cooper’s office, has said the calls continue to be investigated.

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.