DC Non-Profit Confirms It is Making N.C. Robocalls

Women's Voices Women Vote told the News Blog this afternoon that it is the source of robocalls in North Carolina that have, according to the The Institute of Southern Studies Facing South blog, "spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week..."

Women's Voices Women Vote is a Washington D.C. non-profit organization that works to register unmarried women to vote. Communications Director Sarah Johnson says that unmarried women are less likely to vote than their "married sisters."

So as part of a 24-state mailing campaign, according to Johnson, Women's Voices helped send out voter registration packages in the mail. Women just need to fill out the forms and send them back by mail to be registered to vote.

Johnson said they also made automated phone calls to voters in North Carolina when they had the person's number to tell them about the registration packages.

Sounds innocent enough, right? Only problem is that the deadline for mailing in voter registration forms in the mail has already passed in North Carolina. And those robocalls? Johnson confirmed that the calls didn't bother to mention that the deadline had passed and that the forms were only for the fall election. Nor did they identify Women's Voices as the source of the call. The calls instead came from a "Lamont Williams" which Johnson told the News Blog is just an automated voice.

"We do see there this is causing confusion and we completely apologize for the confusion," said Johnson. Johnson says that in the future, any phone calls will contain correct voter information and the source of the calls.

But Facing South alleges there is more to this situation that a simple mistake in timing.

The call's suggestion that they're not registered has caused widespread confusion and drawn hundreds of complaints, including many from African-American voters who received the calls. The calls are also probably illegal. Farmer and others have told Facing South the calls use a blocked phone number and provided no contact information -- a violation of North Carolina rules regulating 'robo-calls' (N.C. General Statute 163-104(b)(1)c). N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper further stated in a recent memo that the identifying information must be clear enough to allow the recipient to 'complain or seek redress' -- something not included in the calls.

And this is not the first time this has happened, according to Facing South. Women's Voices has been at the receiving end of criticism from election officials and "would-be voters" in at least 11 states.

Facing South also alleges that there may be a reason behind this secretive effort.

Facing South notes that Women's Voices Executive Director Joe Goode worked for Bill Clinton's election campaign in 1992 as a pollster. And one of its board members is John Podesta, former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. Other board members also have ties to the Clinton administration.

"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 tells Facing South. "These are highly skilled political operatives -- something doesn't add up. Maybe it's all well-intended and explainable. At this moment, our first priority is to stop the robo-calls and prevent the chaos and potential disenfranchisement caused by this group sending 276,000 packets of registration forms into North Carolina a few days before a heated primary election. We need their immediate cooperation."

Johnson told the News Blog that they are working with Democracy North Carolina to try and stop the remaining bulk mail from going out. And when asked about Facing South's suggestion that this might be connected to supporters of Hillary Clinton, Johnson said that Women's Voice, Women Vote is a "non-profit, non-political organization that doesn't support any political party."

If the News Blog may borrow a phrase from a certain cable news network ... we report, you decide.

3:31 PM ET | 04-30-2008 | permalink