N.C. GOP congressional campaign accused of poll intimidation, illegal robocalls

The campaign of the candidate challenging a two-term congressman from North Carolina is raising eyebrows over questionable and possibly illegal tactics.

Poll workers associated with U.S. House District 13 candidate Bill Randall, a Republican businessman challenging incumbent Democrat Brad Miller, have taken actions at early voting sites that appear to cross the line from observing voters to intimidating them.

Randall is the politician who gained notoriety earlier this year when he suggested the BP oil disaster was a conspiracy between the company and the Obama administration who "[m]aybe wanted it to leak."

Randall's poll workers have drawn at least two dozen complaints from voters to date, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. The complaints allege that the workers have aggressively approached voters and election officials inside voting sites, hovered near voters during the voting process while taking down their names and addresses, and questioned established voting law.

The actions have distracted poll officials from their work, according to the paper:

Election supervisors have spent a lot of time dealing with poll watchers when they should have been focused on getting people through the voting process, said Gary Sims, deputy director of the Wake elections board.

"Instead, they've had to spend a lot of time explaining the law," Sims said. "We stop it when it happens; it's just a lot of effort for our supervisors."

Randall's campaign has also been involved with automated robocalls that appear to violate state law.

Earlier this week, voters in the district received robo-calls endorsing Randall from Marie Stroughter with the group African-American Conservatives.

The number that showed up on caller ID was 919-521-8593. But it turns out that number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Another person who got the robocall on his cell phone reports the number that showed up was from a fictitious 555 exchange.

That would appear to be a violation of North Carolina law, which requires the person making the call to provide contact information. (For a memo on robocalls from the N.C. Attorney General's office that's been shared with the state's major parties and the N.C. Board of Elections, click here.)

When one woman who received the call contacted the Randall campaign to have her name stricken from the call list, she was contacted by Randall's treasurer, Tom Price, who told her that the call came from Washington Political Group, a Georgia-based consulting and communications firm. The group has also done work on behalf of numerous state Republican Parties well as Americans for Prosperity.

According to a report on the number at the website Who Called Us, the number has also been used on calls related to the N.C. Tea Party Summit.

Following a 2008 Facing South investigation that exposed the Democratic organization behind illegal robocalls made in North Carolina and other states, the N.C. Attorney General obtained $100,000 in civil penalties from the group.

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re: N.C. GOP congressional campaign accused of poll intimidation

While I appreciate the left's desire to help those they feel are less fortunate than themselves I hardly can give this report any serious credibility.

Your link about what Mr. Randall said is obviously a site meant to attack him. I did watch the video and must admit it did not look very good and perhaps Mr. Randall over reacted...after all there are scams in government, especially when there is a lot of money and power combined with someone losing their life (lives), take the Iraq and Afghan wars.

In regards to the phone calls none of them came directly from Mr. Randall's campaign and the people at the polls are volunteers and who probably don't know what they are doing.

Then to top it all off, you put some supposed "investigation" that you did against the democrats. So I go and look at your home page and see all left-leaning articles.

I guess in this day and age, anyone can be called a journalist...pathetic that we live in this day and age. Too bad you're just another person with an agenda with no real integrity for the truth.

re: N.C. GOP congressional campaign accused of poll intimidation

I have to agree with the above poster. Candidates cannot be held responsible for the actions of other groups. In this case, a conservative group outside of the state that is interested in seeing black conservatives elected to office, made some phone calls endorsing Bill Randall. If Bill Randall has not contracted with this group to have phone calls made on his behalf, then how is he responsible? His only responsibility is to make this group aware of NC law once he has been informed of the problem. Also, poll watchers are volunteers. The poll watchers that have caused problems should perhaps be educated about what is permissible and if they continue, then other volunteers should take their place. During this 2010 midterm election, there are many of us who are taking an active role in politics for the first time. I am not surprised that there lessons to be learned. However, having more people involved in shining a light on our state and federal government is a positive thing for us all.

re: N.C. GOP congressional campaign accused of poll intimidation

When the Black Panthers showing up outside a polling place with nightsticks isn't considered "voter intimidation" how can you accuse someone of it by "hovering". Give us a break. It is also important to remember according to Eric Holder that election laws don't apply to white people.

re: N.C. GOP congressional campaign accused of poll intimidation

I would disagree with the prevailing opinions being presented in the comments so far as the arguments are moot. No politician is going to stand in the way of this activity until/unless he/she is called out. The effort works in their favor and the calls, regadless of the group making them, are doing so to directly benefit the target candidate.

As for JD's post, two wrongs do not a right make; or did that little bit of wisdom escape you in the heat of posting?

re: N.C. GOP congressional campaign accused of poll intimidation

I prefer my news outlets to be honest about their biases so that I may more clearly understand the information they relay. When I know their biases their information drifts closer to the truth.

On the other hand, when a press organization claims to be non biased they lie before reporting a single story. Bias can not be avoided, but its appearance can be manufactured as it is in this site.

Your links betray your manufactured non bias. This site attempts to hide its biases and as such attempts to lie to the reader.

re: N.C. GOP congressional campaign accused of poll intimidation

The News and Disturber, I mean observer, has no credibility with common sense conservatives because we know that they are pocket socialists. By that, I mean McClatchy radicals - not known for fair or objective reporting.