Ohio robocalls give wrong election day

In Ohio on Tuesday, voters went to the polls and repealed a law that prohibits collective bargaining by public employee unions. But some voters received robocalls from proponents of that law telling them that the voting was on Wednesday.

The Huffington Post reports:

At 9:37 a.m. on Tuesday, a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) staffer in Ohio received a robocall message inaccurately telling voters the election was “tomorrow.”

“Hi, I am calling to remind you that tomorrow is Election Day,” said the voice on the message. “It is critically important that you go vote and protect the future of our country. Tomorrow, please go to the polls and vote YES on Issue 2, and vote YES on Issue 3. Paid for by American Future Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. 866-559-5854.”

Voting yes on Issue 2 means voting in favor of SB 5, Gov. John Kasich’s anti-collective bargaining law.

The calls were paid for by the American Future Fund, a group that spent millions in the 2010 elections supporting conservative candidates, including Rep. Tim Walberg. The group denies that the calls were intentionally send out on Tuesday:

Mandy Fraher, a spokeswoman for American Future Fund, acknowledged that automated phone calls were being made on Tuesday telling recipients that the election was being held “tomorrow.” She insisted that the mix-up was due to “gross incompetence on behalf of the phone vendor” and that the group was “working to correct that problem immediately.”

“As soon as we realized the problem we stopped those calls and we started calling those people back who received a call to inform them that today is Election Day,” said Fraher.

Michigan is likely to face a similar repeal election next November on the Emergency Manager bill; opponents of that bill say they are 80 percent of the way to get the signatures necessary to put that repeal on the ballot.