UPDATED: How to Stop the GOP'S Deceptive Robocalls from Depressing Election Turnout [VIDEO/AUDIO]

Posted by Evan Derkacz and Joshua Holland at 2:03 PM on November 6, 2006.

(Help get this story out to more viewers by "digging" it HERE. -- Ed)

UPDATE: John Aravosis wants to "Throw these people in jail," as the Republican Party is actually using the voice of the Democratic Candidate to deceive voters....

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With the Midterm Elections well underway the Republican machine is busy cobbling together their latest Cut-Down-The-Vote campaign. Meet "the robocall."

Your vigilance is needed right now, so take a quick moment to read about what's going on -- today, in your country, in your home -- and pass it on to everyone you know. The national TV networks are thus far ignoring the story, so it's up to you. Tomorrow is too late.

In addition to the phony mailers to Latinos, calls directing voters to nonexistent polls, and a fresh batch of onerous voter ID laws (video, right), this year's "hanging chad" is the Robocall.

Robocalling itself is simple: a computer calls your home phone and delivers a pre-recorded message about a candidate. They're annoying, sure, but it's legal and, according to one political strategist, "they represent the freedom of speech that our country was founded on."

Perhaps, but Americans aren't up in arms about an annoyance, and this isn't about the First Amendment. People are angry, and demanding action, because the Republican Party appears to be using fraudulent and misleading calls to suppress the vote in at least 50 districts across the nation....

Jill Porter, a columnist with the Philadelphia Daily News, was sick in bed when she was deluged with the calls:

There are dozens of online computerized-call firms available to do the dirty work. And it's much cheaper in a costly media market such as Philadelphia to use robocalls than to pay for TV ads.

But if they annoy voters rather than enlighten them, what's the point?

That's what I asked Lois Murphy's campaign yesterday.

The answer was simple:

"It's not us!"

Only three recorded calls have been made on behalf of Murphy's campaign, including one from Gov. Rendell, which were sponsored by the Democratic State Committee.

The rest? A "dirty trick" by the Republicans, said communications director Amy Bonitatibus.

The calls, which begin by offering "important information about Lois Murphy," are designed to mislead voters into thinking the message is from her.

Most recipients slam down the phone before finding out otherwise - and then call to complain.

"We've got a ton of complaints, starting about two weeks ago," Bonitatibus said.

"Some of our biggest supporters have said, 'If you call me again, I'm not voting for Lois.'" [...]

The Boston Globe notes that:

FCC rules say all prerecorded messages must "at the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call."

Now listen to the call in the upper right ("Listen" or "Download" buttons) which sounds as though it's in clear violation of the above FCC rule (audio from the Capitol Fax Blog). It doesn't state who it's from until the end when it says that "this call was paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee." (This particular call, it should be noted, smears Iraq War hero Tammy Duckworth, a double-amputee).

A report from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette even notes that Indiana residents had received messages with "Indian or Hispanic" accents. Those, messages, the Democrats point out, included references to immigration issues.

Again, because Republicans will claim, and lazy media will dutifully report, that "everybody does it":

Robocall... annoying but legal.

Robocall from Republicans failing to comply with the FCC by identifying themselves upfront and calling back several times to deceive voters into irritation at Democrats... dirty and possibly illegal.

The good news is, newspapers across the nation, and a few local stations have begun to pick up the story. It's not enough. Tell everyone you know about the latest dirty tricks.

Here's how you can fight back: To find out about robocalls in your area go HERE and to find out what you should do if you get a robocall, go to G2geek's DailyKos diary HERE.

Insert witty, urbane, slightly cynical, Mark Twain quote here. (TPM)

Tagged as: gop, election06, voter fraud

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.