Hillary Front Caught Suppressing Vote - Again!
From the DNC鈥檚 taxpayer-funded National Public Radio:
Group with Clinton Ties Behind Dubious Robocalls
by Peter Overby
All Things Considered, May 1, 2008 路 Thousands of North Carolina residents answered their telephones last week to hear this message, delivered in a deep, soothing voice:
鈥淗ello. 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 fill it out, sign it, date and return the application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard. Please return your registration form when it arrives. Thank you.鈥?br>
In fact, the deadline to register for the May 6 Democratic presidential primary had already passed. The robocall went to many registered voters who were expecting to vote that day. The call and follow-up mailings left many wondering whether they were registered for the primary or not.
This sounds like a classic example of voter suppression 鈥?sowing confusion in order to drive down turn-out. The calls seemed to be aimed at African-American communities, places where Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is expected to run well ahead of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
But the group behind the calls isn鈥檛 partisan Republican or ideologically conservative. It鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Voices Women Vote, a 501(c)(3) charity that states its mission as registering single women to vote鈥?br>
Just a week ago, the group鈥檚 founder, Page Gardner, contacted the North Carolina Board of Elections to let them know about the mailing. She noted that the Women鈥檚 Voices packet, which she said was intended to boost registration in general, would arrive in mailboxes just before the primary. Gardner wrote: 鈥淲e hope this unfortunate coincidence in timing does not lead to any confusion or aggravation for either your state鈥檚 voters or registrars.鈥?br>
Will Evans of the Center for Investigative Reporting , who collaborated in reporting this story, found some Obama backers among the Women鈥檚 Voices leadership, but the group mostly has ties to Clinton and her campaign. Gardner worked on former President Bill Clinton鈥檚 1992 campaign. Board member John Podesta was President Clinton鈥檚 chief-of-staff. Maggie Williams, Hillary Clinton鈥檚 campaign manager, used to be on the Women鈥檚 Voices leadership team and did consulting work for the group鈥?br>
The Institute for Southern Studies began investigating after receiving complaints about the robocalls. The institute traced the calls to Women鈥檚 Voices, which has acknowledged responsibility.
The Institute turned up other complaints about the group as well, in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. A 鈥淟amont Williams鈥?robocall similar to North Carolina鈥檚 ran in Ohio last fall. In Virginia, robocalls days before the February primary caused voters to flood the board of elections with phone calls, in turn triggering an investigation by the state police.
Kromm says this shows at least five months of a 鈥渄eceptive tactic, illegal in many states.鈥?He notes, 鈥淓ach time this group is criticized for this activity, they apologize for the confusion.鈥?br>
The North Carolina attorney general says the robocalls are illegal. State law requires that automated phone calls identify the sponsoring group and give the recipient a phone number or other means of contacting the group. The Lamont Williams call did neither鈥?br>
As the article notes, a former 鈥渓eadership team鈥?member at WVWV is none other than Hillary鈥檚 campaign manager, Maggie Williams. And Bill Clinton鈥檚 chief of staff, John Podesta, is still listed as a 鈥渄irector.鈥?br>
As the article also briefly notes, these same people have pulled this and other similar voter suppression stunts several times before.
As the aforementioned Institute For Southern Studies points out, this is not an isolated mistake:
D.C. nonprofit aimed at women voters behind deceptive N.C. robo-calls
By Chris Kromm
May 1, 2008
* In Arizona last November, election officials were 鈥渋nundated with complaints鈥?after Women鈥檚 Voices sent a mailing erroneously claiming that recipients were 鈥渞equired鈥?to mail back an enclosed voter registration form. Many who received the mailing were already registered; the mailing also gave the wrong registration date. Secretary of State Jan Brewer denounced the group鈥檚 tactics as 鈥渕isleading and deceptive.鈥?A similar mailing in Colorado that month 鈥淸drew] fire and caused confusion,鈥?according to a state press release.
* In Wisconsin, state officials singled out Women鈥檚 Voices for misleading and possibly disenfranchising voters, stating in a press release [PDF]: 鈥淥ne group in particular 鈥?Women鈥檚 Voices. Women Vote, of Washington, D.C. 鈥?apparently ignored or disregarded state deadlines in seeking to register voters,鈥?sending in registrations past the January 30 deadline and causing 鈥渉undreds of Wisconsin voters who think they registered in advance鈥?to actually not be.
* Michigan officials ended up 鈥渇ielding tons of calls from confused voters鈥?after Women鈥檚 Voices did a February mailing to 鈥?80,000 unmarried women鈥?鈥?including numerous deceased voters and even more that were already registered. Sarah Johnson of Women鈥檚 Voices 鈥渟eemed confused by the confusion,鈥?the Lansing State Journal reported.
* A 1.5 million-piece Women鈥檚 Voices mailing in Florida falsely stated: 鈥淭o comply with state voting requirements, please return the enclosed application.鈥?Pasco County鈥檚 elections supervisor called it 鈥渄isingenuous鈥? another said it created 鈥渁 lot of unnecessary panic on behalf of the voters,鈥?reported local newspapers. Sarah Johnson of Women鈥檚 Voice said, 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry to hear that.鈥?br>
* By March, Women鈥檚 Voices was backing off the erroneous 鈥渞egistration is required鈥?language, but there were still problems. For example, a mailing in Arkansas allowed that 鈥渞egistering to vote is voluntary,鈥?but a clerk in Washington County reported that 鈥渢he majority [of forms] sent back to the county come from registered voters, causing needless labor for office employees.鈥?br>
Problems with the group鈥檚 tactics have also been documented in Louisiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
In each state, the Women鈥檚 Voices campaigns have brought the same news and the same themes, again and again: Deceptive claims and misrepresentations of the law 鈥?sometimes even breaking the law. Wildly inaccurate mailing lists, supposedly aimed at 鈥渦nregistered single women,鈥?but in reality reaching many registered voters as well as families, deceased persons and pets. Tactics that confuse voters and potentially disenfranchise them.
For such a sophisticated and well-funded operation, which counts among its ranks some of the country鈥檚 most seasoned political operatives, such missteps are peculiar, as is the surprise expressed by Women鈥檚 Voices staff after each controversy鈥?br>
Probably NPR is just relieved to find that mean, racist Republicans aren鈥檛 behind these shenanigans.
Of course if they were, NPR and the rest of our watchdog media would be screaming for a special prosecutor and round the clock Congressional show trials.
But speaking of fraud, here is just one example of an ad from this taxpayer supported non-partisan 501c3 鈥渃harity鈥? Well damn...I was left out again!
I really dont know what to say...but here is a link to a more informative story about it
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2... I guess Butterfly is not aware that these are basically the exact same tactics that more or less openly racist Republicans have been using for years to drive down voter turnout among traditionally Democratic voters like blacks. I am not surprised to see Team Clinton adopting these sort of tactics. The Clintons are the "liberal" wing of the Neocon movement. The fact that so many "progressives" and "feminists" blindly support the power hungry, corporate tools only proves that the Bush loyalists have no monopoly on stupidity. No one is suppressing the black vote. I wish you cared more about how our tax dollars fraudulently have gone to Iraq to make the Bushes and the Saudis richer! |
