In Florida, Virginia and Indiana, voters have received phone calls that wrongly told them there was no
need to cast a ballot in person on election day because they could vote by phone.
In Ohio and Wisconsin, billboards in mostly low-income and minority neighbourhoods showed prisoners behind bars and warned
of criminal penalties for voter fraud, an effort that voting rights groups say was designed to intimidate minority voters.
And across the nation, some employers – notably David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who helped fund the conservative group Americans for Prosperity – are pushing their workers to vote for Republican Mitt Romney for president.
Two weeks before what could be one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history, efforts to mislead, intimidate or pressure voters are an increasingly prominent part of the political landscape.
Analysts say tactics typically seen in the last few days before an election are already in play.
“We’ve seen an up-tick in deceptive and intimidating tactics designed to prevent eligible Americans from voting,’’ said Eric Marshall of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, who manages a coalition that has a telephone hot line that collects tips on
alleged voter intimidation.
Democrats have been more vocal in complaining about such antics.
They also cite groups linked to the conservative Tea Party movements that are training tens of thousands of people to monitor
polling places on Nov. 6 for voter fraud.
The controversial plan has been criticised as an attempt to delay or discourage voting.
Republicans have also been behind some of the complaints, which have been focused largely on the eight or so politically divided swing states that are likely to decide the race between Romney and Democratic President Barack Obama.
Kurtis Killian, a Republican from St. Augustine, Florida, was among those in three states who have reported receiving calls that encouraged them to vote by phone so they would not have to go to the polls.
Killian said he received a call from a man who identified himself as an employee of the Florida Division of Elections.
He also said he refused the caller’s offer to cast his vote by phone then reported the call to local elections officials.
“I know there is no such thing as phone voting,’’ Killian said. But “for someone who can’t get out easily,’’ such as elderly or disabled voters, “they might go for that because it would be convenient for them. Once you think you voted you won’t go to the polls. My vote would be cancelled out.”
Virginia’s State Board of Elections received similar complaints from at least 10 people – most of them elderly – who said they had
been urged to vote by phone.
Voters in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, reported similar phone calls in September, sparking an investigation by the Secretary of State’s office, which oversees Indiana elections.
The probe has focused on a firm called Vote USA. It is unclear who was behind the group; its phone number is no longer active.
The Secretary of State urged voters who receive a call from Vote USA to ignore it.
Democratic lawmakers and activists in Wisconsin and Ohio – the most coveted of all the swing states in the presidential race because the winner there is likely to win the White House are angry about several dozen billboard signs that have popped up in recent weeks, warning of stiff penalties for voter fraud.
The billboards were put up in mostly black and low-income communities.
Most had a large picture of a judge’s gavel and said “Voter Fraud is a Felony’’ punishable by up to three and a half years in prison
and a 10,000 dollars fine. They were paid for by an anonymous group described only as “private family foundation”.
Other billboards showed prisoners in jump suits peering through prison bars. Community leaders said the signs were aimed at blacks and Hispanics and the poor as well as ex-convicts – all groups that tend to vote Democratic.
City Council woman Phyllis Cleveland, whose district in Cleveland includes several of the billboards, said the billboards were designed to intimidate.
“I’m worried they will actually scare some of the ex-offenders, people with felony records who can vote,’’ said Cleveland, who added that there is confusion about felons voting because it is illegal in some states. In Ohio, 12 other states and Washington, D.C., felons who are not behind bars may vote.
In response to the complaints, the billboard company, Clear Channel Outdoor, said last weekend that it would take down about 140 billboards in Ohio and Wisconsin that had been scheduled to stay up until Nov. 6 Election Day. The company said it has a policy against putting anonymous political messages on billboards and that it erred in agreeing to the contract.
Some Ohio residents who decided to vote early to avoid long lines on Election Day said they were angry about the billboards.
A few compared them with efforts in more than 30 states to impose new voting restrictions, such as requiring voters to produce a
photo ID. Several photo ID laws have been tossed aside or delayed by courts.
“There is a concerted effort to keep specific groups from the polls,’’ said Camilo Villa, 24, who lives in the Cleveland area and voted early for Obama. “It’ is a matter of serious concern.’’
Meanwhile, some employers have pressured workers to support certain candidates in the presidential race and other elections.
Such employers seem to be taking advantage of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that overturned laws that banned employers from directly expressing their political opinions to their employees.
Critics of the so-called Citizens United ruling which also led to the creation of big-money “Super PACs,’’ or political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited amounts and have been a force in this presidential campaign – say it could make workers feel coerced into voting for certain candidates.
Several companies have sent out letters urging their employees to vote for Romney.
The Koch brothers, who have given millions of dollars to back Romney and other Republicans, have come under fire for sending a “voter information packet” to 45,000 employees of Koch Industries’ Georgia Pacific.
The packet, obtained by the political magazine In These Times, includes a list of candidates the company supports, with Romney at
the top of the list.
It also includes a letter from Koch Industries President David Robertson saying that “many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences,’’ if voters elect candidates who increase regulations and hinder free trade a presumed jab at Obama.
Some Democrats accused Georgia Pacific of trying to force workers into voting for Romney.
Lynn Rhinehart, general counsel for the AFL-CIO, the largest group of labour unions in the U.S, said that employers may communicate with their workers about candidate choices, but should not link a vote with keeping their jobs.
“There could be legal issues with how it is that they are communicating with employees,’’ Rhinehart said in a media call to discuss the election and intimidation tactics.
Georgia Pacific spokesman Greg Guest said the company’s mailing was not an attempt to “intimidate’’ employees and that
many companies and unions give members similar information.