US Voters Hit by Possibly Illegal Robo-Calls

[heidi]

I've seen complaints by people on my flist over the last few days about automatic calls about political candidates & ballot initiatives, which, in most states, are allowed under the Political Calls exception to the Do Not Call Registry (although New Hampshire has an exception to that exception (you can be called by a political campaign if you're on the DNC list but they can't use a recorded message when they do it)).

Most of the calls, it seems, are being made by the National Republican Congressional Committee, despite some protests by the Republican candidates at issue. According to a diarist at DailyKos, the following races have seen robo-calls:

CA-04, CA-50, CT-04, CT-05, FL-13, ID-01, IL-06, IL-08, KS-02, NC-11, NH-02, NY-19, PA-06, WA-05

You can listen to one here (in WAV format) - I'll try and change it into MP3 if that's easier for anyone. It's not the content of the calls that's a problem, per se - it's certainly info that a campaign is allowed to give about its opponent - the problem is the time of day they're being delivered, the fact that it violates some states' laws, and the repetitiveness of the calls if the recipient hangs up. An article in Indiana from last week explains the situation as well.

If you've been hit by the calls, regardless of what candidate or issue you're voting for, people are starting to compile lists on pages like this one to document the situation, and to help alert the mass media.

If you don't want to do that, a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, who was hit with these calls herself, has these two suggestions:

You can complain to the FCC if you think the calls are illegal.... (202-418-1440, phone; 202-418-0232, fax.)

Or you can do what I briefly considered yesterday: Send the NRCC your own robocalls telling it to STOP IT!

Try www.voiceshot.com - 12 cents a call, no minimum. The NRCC's number is 202-479-7000.

The calls seem to generally begin with the phrase "Hi. I'm calling with information about [Dem candidate]". If you hang up, the robocall is set to call back until you listen to a certain amount of information, and the calls are set to be done at night / very early a.m. Many people receiving the calls are complaining to the Democratic candidate, and many Republican candidates have told the press that they have asked for the calls to stop.

Comments

[phoenixsong]

What sucks is that lite and I are getting calls for NYS races -- and we lived there 2+ years and two states ago. Does this mean NYS thinks we still live there and have us as registered voters?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

They may be working from an older list, possibly?

[weatherguy2000.livejournal.com]

Oh, how nice. Not.

Interesting - I'm a staunch Democrat (only voted Republican in Texas, and there even the Democrats are republican-lite), but Friday through yesterday, I got 3 calls from the Republicans urging me to vote for Republicans tomorrow.

I haven't had any of the calls you descrbe, but it amazes me (and dismays exwxgirl) at how the Republicans can 1) get away with this and 2) feel good about themselves for doing it.

"Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs... unless good is very, very careful. " -- Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy, Star Trek

We need to get those bastards out of power for the health of the American democracy and America in general. It might not be ideal, but it's the best one we've got, and I'm sick and tired of the neocons trampling on everything I feel is good about our country.

And I'd better stop now or this could really get long.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Well, technically, they can and do get fined for it, but that's, i guess, considered a "cost of the business"?

[weatherguy2000.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and any penalty would come after the election, when it's too late to be useful for us.

What ever happened to the classy Republicans?

[(Anonymous)]

Here at UT people are receiving text messages reminding them to vote -- which sucks if you don't get texts free. I know John Courage (http://www.courageforcongress.org/home/) has done it, and I think other candidates have as well.

[sundancekid.livejournal.com]

Argh, that's me. LJ asked me to confirm I'm human, and then forgot who I was. :p

[marie-j-granger.livejournal.com]

Well, here in MO, the robo-calls are a bit different. They ask if you're going to vote, then ask if you're going to vote for the Dem candidate, and if you say yes, ask if you're pro-life and then proceed to tell you how the candidate supports partial-birth abortion and cloning and such. I yelled at it and hung up.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

You should report that one, just so it's on the list of known districts.

I'm sorry you've been stuck with it.

[blackink.livejournal.com]

In MI the calls aren't too bad -- maybe half-dozen a day that I actually answer, and when you hang up, they don't call you back. Mike Bouchard is the only candidate's name I've heard, considering I haven't actually been listening to the phone calls long enough to get any information out of them. I'm pretty sure they aren't at unreasonable hours, either -- it just so happens I keep a 5AM-2PM schedule typically, which means I've been getting woken up three to five times a morning by these ridiculous calls.

I think my father's a registered Independent, although I may be wrong on that one. Either way, my cell isn't listed anywhere, so hopefully that's why I haven't been getting calls on it.

[nsmom.livejournal.com]

I got one of those, and I thought it was disgusting. I really need to put something on my answering machine message that says - if you leave a political message on my phone - I won't be voting for you.

[siriologist.livejournal.com]

I'm in FL-13 and have gotten a call about Christine Jennings immigration positions every day for the past 2 weeks on my voice mail at home. I already had decided to vote for Christine Jennings, but if I hadn't I'd vote for her now just because of the calls. I've also gotten automated Charlie Christ calls and I even heard from Bill Clinton yesterday ...imagine that. It's been a wild season. Can't wait until tomorrow is over.

[musikologie.livejournal.com]

My mom lives in NY-22 and she's been getting robo calls, but it's odd that they're even bothering -- there's no way on God's green earth that the GOP is going to defeat Hillary (which is what the call was against) and our Democratic Congressman is running unopposed.

[midnightbex.livejournal.com]

I'm in the IL 06 district but I've been getting them for the IL 08 as well - a race I can't even vote in! My house has gotten hit by about 20 over the last week because there are 3 registered voters in the house and they're still trying to contact my sister as well. It's rediculous and we delete them as soon as we check our messages.

Thanks for the links, I'll definitely be looking to file any complaints about it that I can!