Apr 30, 2008 at 8:08 PM by David Pleasant
Page Gardner, President of Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices and a Hillary Clinton supporter, issued a statement regarding their robocalls in NC and the 16-truckloads of mailers post offices in North Carolina were preparing to deliver.
"In an attempt to prevent further confusion surrounding our voter registration efforts prior to the North Carolina primary, Women’s Voices. Women Vote took the extra step of attempting to stop the remaining mail from being delivered to homes. In total, 20 postal trucks are carrying Women’s Voices. Women Vote registration applications. Four of the trucks have already delivered, but Women’s Voices. Women Vote is making every attempt to delay the delivery of the remaining sixteen trucks.
In regards to the questions from the Facing South blog post regarding robo-calls associated with our mailing, we offer this clarification:
“North Carolina is one of 24 states where we mailed a total of more than 3 million voter registration applications.
“Calls were made to mail recipients for whom we have working phone numbers to alert the household they would be receiving a voter registration form and encouraging them to register to vote. In advance of the mail, a letter was sent to Gary Bartlett in the North Carolina Board of Elections Office. A copy of the letter and a press release sent to North Carolina media announcing the registration effort is attached.
“We understand concerns have been raised about the source of phone calls placed by Women’s Voices, Women Vote. These calls were our sincere attempt to encourage voter registration for those not registered for the general election this fall. We understand North Carolina’s primary registration effort deadline was April 11. We apologize for any confusion our calls may have caused. Our intent and purpose was solely to call attention to the registration applications we hope will be completed and returned to the Board of Elections office making thousands more North Carolinians participants in one of the most important elections of our lifetimes.
Women’s Voices. Women Vote has been in contact with the North Carolina State Board of Elections to work together to resolve any confusion regarding our voter registration efforts.
Read the full statement.
Apr 30, 2008 at 7:22 PM by David Pleasant
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper says WVWV broke the law making all those “voter registration” robocalls and demanded the group cease and desist.
Attorney General Roy Cooper said Wednesday that the group, Women’s Voices, Women Vote, broke the state law that governs automated phone calls, or “robocalls.” No charges were filed, and Cooper’s office was seeking more information from the group.
Cooper’s statement is here (pdf).
ATTENTION NC VOTERS
To report any calls that you have made received, you can call toll free 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or fill out a complaint form available for downloading at www.ncdoj.gov.
Apr 30, 2008 at 5:16 PM by David Pleasant
Progressive South at Kos has found these associations between the WVWV and the Clintons. WVWV is the group responsible for the robocalls in NC I discussed in my last post.
Some have also questioned the ties between Women’s Voices operatives and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton. Gardner, for example, contributed $2,500 to Clinton’s HILLPAC on May 4, 2006, and in March 2005 she donated a total of $4,200 to Clinton, according to The Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org. She has not contributed to the Obama campaign, according to the database.
Women’s Voices Executive Director Joe Goode worked for Bill Clinton’s election campaign in 1992 as a pollster; the group’s website says he was intimately involved in "development and implementation of all polling and focus groups done for the presidential primary and general election campaigns" for Clinton.
Women’s Voices board member John Podesta, former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, donated $2,300 to Hillary Clinton on April 19, 2007, according to OpenSecrets.org. Podesta also donated $1,000 to Barack Obama in July 2004, but that was well before Obama announced his candidacy for president.
If nothing else, it certainly doesn’t look good.
Apr 30, 2008 at 4:05 PM by David Pleasant
(Update I and Update II below)
Robocalls organized by the D.C.-based non-profit organization, Women’s Voices Women’s Votes, have targeted African-American voters in North Carolina, and possibly 23 other states, in what has all the appearances of illegal vote suppression.
The NC State Board of Elections is investigating calls that African-American voters have received where the caller tells the voter they must complete and return a voter registration packet before the voter will be allowed to vote. This is a transcript of one version of the robocalls being made in the state (audio here):
"Hello, this is Lamont Williams. In the next few days, you will receive a voter registration packet in the mail. All you need to do is sign it, date it and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard. Please return the voter registration form when it arrives. Thank you."
It is worth noting that under North Carolina law, G.S § 163?275(17), it is a Class I felony to “…directly or indirectly, to misrepresent the law to the public through mass mailing or any other means of communication where the intent and the effect is to intimidate or discourage potential voters from exercising their lawful right to vote.”
Facing South has confirmed the non-profit is responsible for the robocalls made in North Carolina, and it may be part of a substantially larger operation spanning numerous states. (Emphasis added).
The D.C.-based nonprofit, led by well-connected Washington operatives, claims in a press release they sent to Facing South…that the North Carolina calls are part of a 24-state effort targeted at a list of 3 million voters, especially unmarried women. The robo-calls, which never mention Women’s Voices, are followed by mailings that include information on how to register to vote. They plan to mail some 276,000 packets in North Carolina alone.
But since last November, in at least 11 states nationwide, Women’s Voices — sometimes working through its Voter Participation Center project — has developed a checkered reputation, drawing rebukes from leading election officials and complaints from thousands of would-be voters as a result of their secretive tactics, deceptive mailings and calls, and penchant for skirting or violating the law.
With respect to Virginia and Ohio, Facing South reported (emphases in original):
[…] Voters in Virginia received calls with the same message before that state’s Feb. 12 primaries. . .
On February 8, WAMU reported:
"[...] The state board of elections says at least a dozen people in central and southern Virginia have received automated phone calls this week telling them to expect a voter registration packet in the mail. The residents say they were instructed by the caller to fill out the packets and mail them in."
Facing South has also learned that, last year, voters in Ohio received almost the exact same calls, using the same name of the supposed caller in North Carolina. 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.’
"Since the election is Tuesday, the message is nonsensical. Also, I can’t find any information on this Lamont Williams. The caller ID was blocked (’unknown caller’)."
It would be extremely hard to argue that the calls in NC, VA, and OH are coincidental.
It is amazing that the non-profit confirmed they actually made the calls in North Carolina. And considering all the research Facing South has done that suspiciously parallels similar activities in Ohio, Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida, this could be a very big deal. Read more here.
Update: Sarah Johnson, a spokeswoman for Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes (WVWV), has also confirmed to TPM that the non-profit was responsible for the calls in North Carolina. Johnson said the calls were an "unfortunate mistake."
Update II 4:56 PM: The Virginia State Police investigated the robocalls in Virginia and found that WVWV was behind the calls there as well.
