WIRED: PDF Price list: "WVWV targets only unmarried women, including divorced or widowed women" [View All]

Will the Real Lamont Williams Please Stand Up? -- Update

By Sarah Lai Stirland May 03, 2008 | 8:05:00 PMCategories: Election '08

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The anonymous calls using the unknown male persona look especially strange since the voter-registration group has, in the past, used high-profile celebrities to advance their cause. And everything the group has said about its mission before this week has indicated that it exclusively targets unmarried women.

Consider this price list (.pdf), found on the group's website, in which WVWV offers to sell its database. "WVWV targets only unmarried women, including divorced or widowed women," the document reads. "WVWV has used state-of-the-art technology and data-mining and analysis techniques in order to accurately identify these women and encourage them to register and turn out to vote."

There's nothing in there, or anywhere else on its website, about the group expanding to target African-American men.

The group said Thursday that Lamont Williams is the real name of the voice performer they hired for the 20-second recording. Threat Level searched the top voice talent agencies with online databases, and didn't find Mr. Williams.

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http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/calling-on-lamo.html


HMMH...WIRED CAPTURED A PDF STATING WVWV ONLY TARGETED UNMARRIED WOMEN, INCLUDING DIVORCED OR WIDOWED WOMEN, BUT NOW THE WVWV WEB SITE ADDED:

WVWV Voter Registration
May 3rd, 2008
Womens Voices, Women Vote has registered over 400,000 unmarried women, African American and Latina voters this cycle. We have mailed applications forms, to over 10 million prospective voters in 26 states. For those unregistered people for whom we have phone numbers, we provide a robo call alerting them that they'll be receiving a registration application in the mail, and urging them to fill it out and return it.

http://www.wvwv.org/

WAS THE INFORMATION CHANGED TO COVER UP THE LAMONT WILLIAMS CALLS?

HISTORY ON COVERAGE OF THIS @ WIRED:

Washington, D.C., Group Accused of High-Tech Dirty Tricks to Suppress Black Vote

By Sarah Lai Stirland April 30, 2008 | 5:41:18 PMCategories: Election '08

A D.C. advocacy group called Women's Voices, Women Vote is being accused of waging a high-tech voter suppression campaign, after voters in predominantly black districts in North Carolina began receiving automated phone calls implying that they hadn't properly registered to vote in the upcoming Democratic primary.

Page Gardner, Women's Voices, Women Vote's president has apologized for any "confusion" caused by her group's anonymous robocalls to North Carolina voters.

The controversy underscores the mounting tension in the Democratic primary race. Polling in North Carolina currently favors Barack Obama over rival Hillary Clinton for the May 6 Democratic presidential primary there. Blacks, who overwhelmingly favored Obama in primaries in Virginia and Maryland, make up about 22 percent of the population in North Carolina, according to the U.S. Census.

Voters began complaining to The Raleigh News & Observer last week that they were receiving the automated calls, which the paper reported were primarily going to black households. The calls play a 20-second message voiced by a man who calls himself "Lamont Williams."

"In the next few days, you will receive a voter-registration packet in the mail," the Williams recording said. "All you need to do is sign it, date it and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard. Please return the voter-registration form when it arrives. Thank you."

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http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/north-carolin-1.html#previouspost




Group Behind Misleading Robo-Calls to Voters Answers Some Questions, Ducks Others

By Sarah Lai Stirland May 01, 2008 | 5:23:58 PMCategories: Election '08

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In a statement issued Thursday to DailyKos blogger Adam Bonin, WVWV spokeswoman Sarah Johnson explains that the omission of the group's name was "a mistake."

"We regret the error and will ensure it does not happen again," Johnson wrote.

It's unclear whether Johnson means the organization forgot to identify itself when it wrote the 20-second script for the call, or whether it made the decision to stay anonymous, and now that it's been unmasked, regards that decision as a mistake.

Either way, there's a problem with this explanation, as the Institute for Southern Studies' Chris Krommer notes: Women's Voices, Women Vote generated a similar controversy in Virgina in February. Virginia police and the state's board of elections received calls from more than a dozen Virginia residents about anonymous, unsolicited phone calls urging them to register to vote.

After the calls were traced to Women's Voices, Women Vote, the very same Sarah Johnson offered the identical "Oops!" excuse, and promised that Women's Voices, Women Vote would begin to identify itself in the calls.

Complaints about the group's voter-registration campaign have also surfaced in states all over the country earlier this year. Those states include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

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http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/details-of-nort.html#previouspost


WE NEED MORE QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED REGARDING THE ROBO CALLS!