A Washington-based nonprofit has pledged to stop calling North Carolina voters after state Attorney General Roy Cooper said it broke the law by failing to identify itself.
Women’s Voices Women Vote had made automated calls to North Carolina voters telling them to look for a “voter registration packet” in the mail earlier this week.
But voting rights advocates and the State Board of Elections called the ads inaccurate and misleading, since
the state’s mail-in voter registration deadline has passed.
In addition, the voice on the call was only identified as “Lamont Williams,” and the group’s name and its contact information were not included in the recording, as required by state law.
Cooper asked the nonprofit to stop making the calls, but a spokeswoman said no decision had been made about whether to levy any sanctions against the group, which is affiliated with several top national Democrats.
In a statement today, the group said that the calls were “a sincere attempt” to register voters and apologized for any confusion.
Bob Bauer, an attorney for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign, said the calls were “extremely disturbing” and fit “the classic model of voter suppression” by sowing confusion just before the May 6 primary.
But he stopped short of saying the calls were designed to discourage voters.
“They have said it’s inadvertent and I understand it will not happen again,” he said.
--Ryan Teague Beckwith, Raleigh News & Observer
