Wisconsin Voters Report Receiving Robocalls Telling Them Not To Vote
6:13 am - 06/09/2012
Wisconsin Voters Report Receiving Robocalls Telling Them Not To Vote
From Eau Claire to Beloit, voters across Wisconsin are relaying stories via Twitter, Facebook and online message boards about anonymous “robocalls” from allies of Scott Walker, telling them–incorrectly–that if they signed petitions to recall Governor Walker, their vote in today’s crucial election has been recorded.
An NBC reporter tweeted that a family friend was one recipient of the call:
Keva
@Synergy3k
Dad just emailed, a WI friend of his got the 'If you signed the petition you don't have to vote tomorrow' robocall #wirecall
4 Jun 12
Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee and the Democratic nominee to unseat Governor Scott Walker, told MSNBC host Ed Schultz last night that his campaign began receiving complaints yesterday that voters had been contacted with the misinformation. This morning, Salon reported on the robocalls too, and included comments from Carol Gibbons, a Wisconsin resident who got the call herself. And a local CBS affiliate is even reporting that the caller sounds eerily similar to Tom Barrett, suggesting the group behind the call may have hired a Barrett impersonator.
So far no recording of the call has surfaced, but the reports from voters was enough to prompt the Barrett campaign to make calls of its own, warning voters not to listen to the first call. For its part, the Walker campaign denied any involvement in or knowledge of the robocall or who was behind it.
Election day antics were a near certainty in Wisconsin. In the last week, reports of other campaign antics surfaced, including an attempt by Walker supporters to disable the Barrett campaign’s phone lines by flooding their call centers with spam phone calls.
Source
OP: I apologize if this has been posted already. I searched but couldn't find it. I'm not sure if I'm surprised but hell, to pull this kind of shit on a RECALL? That's some balls.
From Eau Claire to Beloit, voters across Wisconsin are relaying stories via Twitter, Facebook and online message boards about anonymous “robocalls” from allies of Scott Walker, telling them–incorrectly–that if they signed petitions to recall Governor Walker, their vote in today’s crucial election has been recorded.
An NBC reporter tweeted that a family friend was one recipient of the call:
Keva
@Synergy3k
Dad just emailed, a WI friend of his got the 'If you signed the petition you don't have to vote tomorrow' robocall #wirecall
4 Jun 12
Tom Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee and the Democratic nominee to unseat Governor Scott Walker, told MSNBC host Ed Schultz last night that his campaign began receiving complaints yesterday that voters had been contacted with the misinformation. This morning, Salon reported on the robocalls too, and included comments from Carol Gibbons, a Wisconsin resident who got the call herself. And a local CBS affiliate is even reporting that the caller sounds eerily similar to Tom Barrett, suggesting the group behind the call may have hired a Barrett impersonator.
So far no recording of the call has surfaced, but the reports from voters was enough to prompt the Barrett campaign to make calls of its own, warning voters not to listen to the first call. For its part, the Walker campaign denied any involvement in or knowledge of the robocall or who was behind it.
Election day antics were a near certainty in Wisconsin. In the last week, reports of other campaign antics surfaced, including an attempt by Walker supporters to disable the Barrett campaign’s phone lines by flooding their call centers with spam phone calls.
Source
OP: I apologize if this has been posted already. I searched but couldn't find it. I'm not sure if I'm surprised but hell, to pull this kind of shit on a RECALL? That's some balls.
And yup. It's painful, honestly, and frequently has some really obnoxiously classist overtones. There may have been shenanigans, but we didn't lose this one because they cheated. We lost for a handful of reasons, some fair and some unfair. But a few prank calls wasn't it. At least not this time.