Anonymous Call Tells Pennsylvania Dems To Vote Wednesday

A registered Democrat in Pennsylvania writes the Huffington Post to report that she has received an anonymous phone call telling her she should go to the polls on Wednesday.

"I received a phone call from an unidentified caller yesterday telling me that because of the expected high voter turnout, Democrats will need to vote on Wednesday, November 5th," she writes.

The calls are obviously misleading, as voting ends on Tuesday. And apparently they have been going on for quite some time. This past Friday the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported "robocalls making the rounds in Pittsburgh region" disseminating the misleading information. The reader who contacted Huffington Post was from the Philadelphia suburbs, at the opposite end of the state.

Contacted by the Huffington Post, a spokesman for the Obama campaign's Pennsylvania operations said he was aware of the misleading calls but "not worried about" their impact.

If you hear anything more about this or other last-minute election tactics, please contact the Huffington Post.

Comments

[nelgom]

My wife just called me to say that our neighbor got a call from a "concerned" citizen telling him that Hispanic voters should vote this Wednesday instead of Tuesday. What is scary is that we live in Westchester, NY (Democratic county). If that is happening in a county that is not even a battleground area I can only imagine what is going on in those states where it is too close to call. Now I'm more energize than ever to take a trip down to Pennsylvania tomorrow to volunteer and help get the people to the voting places. NOT THIS TIME BABY!!!

[DaBluAce]

I know it made me get back on the stick about finishing my call list for today!

[portchester]

No, the flier was issued by the County of West., Board of Elections, stating that the Voting date is Sunday, Nov. 09.

[Jeff1958]

This is a clear act of treason and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[wingman1]

I agree Jeff. The people who do this stuff are anti-democratic and should be in jail.

[TrueBlueMajority]

there were reports of this happening in Virginia also. it's an old tactic. Republicans want as few people to vote as possible because they know we outnumber them.

[seachild]

wait just a second: WHY WOULD ANYONE BE STUPID ENOUGH TO VOTE ON THE 5TH????????????

[DaBluAce]

it isn't a matter of being stupid enough it is a matter of first time voters, young people, older folks and people who just plain don't know would fall for this scam....look at all the scams people fall for every day ....and it because they think the person telling the information is looking out for their best interest

[OB08]

The elderly and the uninformed maybe vulnerable to these types of calls. Get the word out people and vote on Tuesday, 4th November.

[beantowner]

Because this country has many low-information voters, and the Republicans are counting on their ignorance about our voting system.

Otherwise, they employ fear tactics (i.e., if you're a student, you're not allowed to vote where you go to school or you might lose your student loans; if you're in foreclosure, you can't vote because you have no known address right now; if you have outstanding parking tickets, you'll be arrested when you attempt to vote). These tactics have worked in the past.

NOT THIS TIME!

[Hillrick]

People who believe in following the word of authority my be inclined especially if they believe there is a grain of logic to it. And some are just gullible the same that some are mean spirited and anti American.

[timm0]

Irrelevant and stupid question.

The intellect of the victim of a crime doesn't matter - crime is crime.

[TLCB]

I really don't think it will make an impact at all. I think most of America is on to the tricks the Republicans play. The only ones who don't must be living in a cave

[ohioan73]

1. Voter intimidation
2. Sub-standard voting accomodations
3. Misleading robocalls, fliers--to trick people into voting on the wrong day

Get angry. E-mail and call everybody in local/national/state government you can think of. This is not right. They are doing this right in our faces and getting away with it. I'm p*ssed!

[ilovemycat]

Why do the republican's get away with the crap year after year after year? I just don't understand why there aren't ways for attorney's to have phone companies block these types of misleading phone calls. The Govenrment can spy on every American and fly people to the moon, but they can't stop a misleading robobcall? I just don't get it!

[LHoney]

or how about tracing them and arresting the callers???

[quiviran]

This is why it should be illegal to block incoming phone numbers.

[LemonMeringue]

The first priority of the Democratic administration should be to end the wars.

The second should be to fix our elections.

Third, repeal every single piece of legislation the Bush administration pushed through.

[NoblesseOblige]

Fourth, put all the c.r.i.m.i.n.a.l.s on trial--from the top down.

[oscartucker]

Someone should be arrested; track down the calls. These people are interfering with the voting process and trying to create havoc.

[LemonMeringue]

LAWSUIT

Surely these can be traced. Every keystroke over the internet, every cell phone or land line call, is archived somewhere and data mineable. (PBS did a special documentary on this awhile ago.) They can find out who did this.

Subpoena the phone records.

[Denemator]

Surely if they illegally can tap our phones they should be able to track those c.reeps, ah what am I saying they are re.pugli.can c.reeps and they are above the law.

[Phaedrus21]

At least with the fliers that have been going out, there seems to be a tendency by the authorities to refer to it as a "prank".

This is a crime. It should be punished.

[LemonMeringue]

Until there are $500,000 fines and some people do jail time, our elections will not get fixed.

[houstonobserver]

Really unfortunate choice of words there, seeing as there is a suspicion that they WILL be "fixed". ;-)

[FlamingLibrul]

My thoughts exactly. How dare these punks get away with saying things like "It was a prank gone wrong, or too far." That's exactly what they're saying when caught. There are severe penalties for tampering with U.S. Mail. There should be severe penalties for tampering with election and voting procedures.

[nellie]

Someday these tricks will be illegal and tricksy people will find themselves in jail.

[bola47]

check your caller id and then call the state police and the fbi.

[beantowner]

Caller ID doesn't always help. I've received two robocalls from the McCain campaign, here in Arizona, and they come through listed as "PRIVATE." The subsequent listing on my phone under "calls received" lists the call as "no number." So you don't know the number that the call was generated from, and there's no way to return it.

In both instances, the recording did list a phone number at the end of the call, but you'd think the old fast-talking FexEx ad guy was reciting it - much too fast to actually be decipherable to the average ear.

But the people behind these kinds of calls will get what's coming to them eventually. Karma, baby, karma.

[FlamingLibrul]

Yes I believe in Karma too, but will we be around to see Karma kick some butt? That's my worry...kind of like the "If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound" dilemma...

[EricHayes]

This is why I have Caller ID Screening. You can't get through to me if you don't have ID unless you dial *82 first. Greatest thing since dead republicans.

[kellygrrrl]

they pulled this exact same stunt in 2000 and 2004.
hopefully, everyone sees it for exactly what it is.

I would hope Gov Rendell can trace the call and deal with the perps.
He can also make a PSA on every local channel and newspaper

[enaught]

This is another reason why voting should take place on a SATURDAY. If voting took place on a Saturday, I think that would eliminate confusion about what day of the week voting takes place. I remember in 2002, people I worked with were confused about the day and thought it might be on Thursday. (Other reasons to change the day include: less stress about leaving work to vote and more people available to volunteer to work the polls.)

E

[elbowroom]

Or make it a National Holiday, so you neither spend half your weekend in line nor miss a day of work.

As Rachel Maddow says, the way it's done now is equivelant to a Voter Tax.

[ChefDC]

Rachael also said that shes not sure it would work because she thinks some people will just take off for a lake with a fishing poll in hand.