Robocalls

[kentonio]

Does anyone actually listen to these things? We don't have them in the UK and they seem pretty retarded from the outside. Doesn't it feel like an intrusion having a political campaign contacting you unsolicited in your home to try and get your support?

[rah]

If anything, it makes me not want to vote for the person. I have never seen any study that showed that these types of call actually help a candidate. And no, the only thing I ever remember from these calls is the name and it's not a positive association.

[regexcellent]

You don't have these because your campaigns are only what, 6 weeks long or so? Ours is a circus that runs in a continual 4-year-long cycle.

[Wezil]

Does anyone actually listen to these things? We don't have them in the UK and they seem pretty retarded from the outside. Doesn't it feel like an intrusion having a political campaign contacting you unsolicited in your home to try and get your support?

How about if they send voters to the wrong poll location?

A citizen advocacy group is asking the Federal Court of Canada to overturn election results in seven ridings where telephone dirty tricks may have kept voters away from the polls.

The Council of Canadians says pre-recorded robocalls and live calls influenced the outcome of votes in closely fought races in British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Ontario.

The group is backing the first legal challenge of election results since the Ottawa Citizen and Postmedia News revealed ongoing Elections Canada investigations into misleading election day calls in Guelph and other ridings.

The organization's lawyers filed four applications in court on Friday and was due to file three more Monday, all seeking have the results of the votes set aside.

The applications claim that irregular, fraudulent or illegal activities affected the outcome in each of the seven ridings.

All of the ridings named were won by Conservative candidates and all but one was decided by fewer than 1,000 votes.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/Robocalls+Acti...#ixzz1r5MNN8kX

[kentonio]

You don't have these because your campaigns are only what, 6 weeks long or so? Ours is a circus that runs in a continual 4-year-long cycle.

Our parties go into campaign mode long before the election, but it's done more subtly for the most part.

[Addled Platypus]

when i fill out post card info - like for sweepstakes etc,or on internet sites-- never use your real number

i do (111)222-3333

limit your chances to robo calls

[-Jrabbit]

In the Illinois primary, Romney was the biggest offender by far (at least at my house), and none of us is a registered Republican. Total waste of resources. Three Democrats were robo-bickering for the US10 rep slot, so there was some action there as well. there were also some alleged "short survey" robocalls, usually of the thinly-disguised partisan variety ("What issue is most important: 1, a eliminating the national debt at any cost, 2, destroying all unions, or 3, killing unborn babies with food stamps?")

Visiting my Mom at a social event at her senior community the Friday before the primary, just about every resident I talked to was b1tching about the number of robocalls. As Rah suggested, some had even decided to vote against the candidates bothering them the most.

I'm seriously considering hooking up my digital recorder to the phone for the general election. Properly edited, there could be some comedy gold there. (Of course, it's much more likely I will just unplug the phone.)

[-Jrabbit]

when i fill out post card info - like for sweepstakes etc,or on internet sites-- never use your real number

i do (111)222-3333

limit your chances to robo calls

Is this so they won't be able to reach you if you actually win something?

[Hauldren Collider]

If anything, it makes me not want to vote for the person. I have never seen any study that showed that these types of call actually help a candidate. And no, the only thing I ever remember from these calls is the name and it's not a positive association.

People say this but if it were true, they wouldn't be doing it.

[-Jrabbit]

Perhaps. There are so many reasons to hate politicians and robocalling is a such small thing.

But since voting in the US is so often about deciding on the lesser of two evils, a candidate promising "no robocalls" would definitely get a notch in the "less evil" column from me.

[rah]

I work in market research and still haven't seen anything that concludes that these calls have a positive impact for candidates. We have seen some evidence that they can impact peoples opinion on certain issues, but that's about it.

[Addled Platypus]

Is this so they won't be able to reach you if you actually win something?

its mainly to build a list and sell and sell and sell

does anyone really win

[notyoueither]

People say this but if it were true, they wouldn't be doing it.

It hasn't been going on for long enough to have effect properly measured.

[Proteus_MST]

The best solution probably would be, to use an answering machine and not personally answer the call before you have ensured, that it isn´t some kind of unsolicitated marketing call.

[Ming]

I love comcast... the number and caller Id pop up on my TV so I can see if I want to answer it or not. Sure, you have to be watching tv at the time, but it sure is a nice feature.