From ABC news::

By more than 30 points, a Women's Voices Women Vote poll found that Obama leads McCain 61-29% in 14 key battleground states among unmarried women and is corroborated by a recent ABC poll as well.

Those findings jibe with the latest ABC News poll released in July, which found Obama leading McCain nationally among unmarried women voters 59 to 32 percent.

"Unmarried women are to progressives what evangelicals are to the conservative movement," Page Gardner, founder and president of Women's Voices Women Votes, told ABC News.com.

Late last month, thousands of African American voters received robocalls with confusing, and probably illegal, messaging about the upcoming elections. It turns out that a group called Women's Voices, Women Vote as responsible for these and other election problems. In spite of multiple complaints, the saga continues with fresh problems reported in Oregon.

The following is the latest installment in the ongoing controversy surrounding Women's Voices Women Vote, first surfaced at Facing South and DailyKos two weeks ago. We believe the following piece is important because it confirms that, contrary to the claims of WVWV and several of its defenders, the voter confusion resulting from WVWV's tactics is not the product of a "mistake" or isolated error, but the predictable result of a conscious strategy. -- Chris and Sue, Facing South

TWO UPDATES at bottom

The controversy that recently erupted in North Carolina over confusing, misleading and at times illegal voter registration tactics used by Women's Voices Women Vote has not discouraged the D.C. nonprofit from continuing similar efforts in mountain states with primaries this month.

A group called "Women's Voices. Women Vote" sent out more than 16,000 mailers to unmarried women in the state after April 22, the last day to register in time to vote Tuesday. ...

Page Gardner, president of the women's organization, said in a letter that:

"West Virginia residents will receive this mail after the deadline for registering to vote to participate in the upcoming primary election.  Please be aware that the mailing is not intended to encourage registration specifically for the primary, but simply to encourage voter registration in general.

The mailing clearly indicates that the deadline to register to vote by mail for a particular election in West Virginia is 20 days before the election ... We hope that this unfortunate coincidence in timing does not lead to any confusion or aggravation for either your state's voters or registrars."

http://www.dailymail.com/...

Women's Voices Women Vote, a nonprofit group with deep ties to Hillary Clinton, is at it again, creating voter confusion in West Virginia just ahead of the state's primary. Despite the fact that WVWV has generated complaints in numerous states over the past six months about tactics that confuse and suppress voters, despite the fact that it has been warned about its misleading and deceptive methods by numerous state and law enforcement officials in many states, despite the fact that WVWV is currently under investigation by the North Carolina Attorney General, WVWV just continues to sow voter confusion. The latest state is West Virginia, where the West Virginia Secretary of State issued a warning on Friday that WVWV's recent mailing could cause voter confusion ahead of the state's primary next week.

After my previous diary on the Women's Voices Women Vote robocall/voter confusion issues in which spokesperson Sarah Johnson responded to a series of questions, I was invited earlier this week to submit additional questions to WVWV President Page Gardner.

Ms. Gardner was able to answer some of my questions, but not all of them.  As a lawyer myself, I am loath to draw any inference from any non-answers.  Given the ongoing NC Attorney General investigation (PDF) and NAACP complaint, WVWV has every right to be cautious in what it says until it is confident it has determined what happened (among other reasons for restraint).  So while I'll note the non-answers below, I'm going to confine my commentary afterwards to the substantive responses.
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1. Your latest press release states that "We do not believe that people who are in fact registered to vote jump to the conclusion that they can't vote simply because they are offered another opportunity to register." Given that there were published news reports and statements from elections officials in multiple states that already-registered voters were in fact confused by hearing phone calls and receiving new registration applications which suggested that without filling out new forms they couldn't vote, what was the basis for that belief?

Every state's Department of Motor Vehicles is tasked under the so-called "Motor Voter" law with providing registration for anyone coming in for a driver's license or other DMV service. They do that every day they are open for business. They don't have a voter file there to look up whether or not you are registered when they offer you the opportunity to register and they offer the opportunity to everyone that comes in. We do not believe this confuses people that are already registered to vote. Moreover, this occurs whether the primary is more than 25 days away or less than 25 days away. Similarly, when people are approached at a shopping center and offered the opportunity to register, they are offered the opportunity whether they are already registered or not, and the groups conducting these registration efforts are not generally accused of confusing those people that are already registered to vote.

2. After Virginia, WVWV promised to stop placing robocalls anonymously and didn't.  Your spokesperson said this was a "mistake".  How did this mistake occur?

[No response.]

3.  When was the Board made aware of the complaints as to voter confusion and the anonymity of your robocalls?

[No response.]

4. How did you arrive at your list of target states?  What criteria were used?  And on what dates were voters in each state called?

Target states were arrived at using criteria that included the number of unmarried women in a state that were not registered to vote or were registered to vote and had not voted compared to the same criteria for married women. In other words, what was the marriage gap in electoral participation between married and unmarried women in the state. We also wanted states from every region of the country, as well as states that have same day registration and states that do not. We also wanted some states with women elected officials at high levels (governor, US Senator) and states without. All of the pre-calls drawing people's attention to our mail and its voter registration form were delivered on the same two days, Thursday and Friday, April 24 and 25.

[According to her 5/5 diary these states were Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.]
5.  Your April 24 letter to Gary Bartlett (NC Board of Elections) speaks exclusively of your work with unmarried women, not men.  Why is that?

[No response.]

6.  After the NC situation became public, what steps did WVWV take to inform NC voters (a) that if they were already registered, they could vote without a problem and (b) if they were not registered, they could still register and vote in person via the one-stop process?  If no such steps were taken, why not?

[No response.  However, in her May 5 diary, Gardner stated, "WVWV offered to make corrective follow-up calls, but upon further consideration and consultation with individuals in the state, concluded that additional calls should not be made."]

7.  Are African American males the only group covered by the Voter Participation Center not already covered by WVWV?  In what states has VPC (or WVWV) attempted to register male voters?

The Voter Particpation Center attempts to register under-represented demographics including African American men, African American married women and married Latinas so these are the other targets for our voter registration other than all unmarried women regardless of ethnic or racial background.

The Voter Participation Center attempts to register these under-represented demographics in every state that WVWV operates, so in the most recent mailing that meant 24 states from coast to coast.

8. For how long has VPC been involved in registering male voters? Are there print materials, or materials sent to (potential) contributors, reflecting this?

The Voter Participation Center was created as a project of WVWV by the Board of Directors in 2007 following the testing of using our direct marketing techniques to register other under-represented demographics in 2006.

9. How is VPC funded?

As a project of WVWV, the VPC is not separately funded. It is funded out of WVWV funds.

10.  Was your husband's company involved as a vendor for these projects?  If yes, through what kind of process was this contract awarded, and was the Board made aware of the potential conflict of interest and involved in approving such contracts?

[No response.]

WVWV also released a statement this week offering an account what what has transpired.
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Reaction: I have tried to extend to WVWV the benefit of every doubt, but I have trouble accepting its answer to the first question.  There's a difference between making registration available to people at public sites, versus anonymously contacting them in their homes and suggesting that they've been specifically identified as folks who need to take additional steps in order to register to vote.  

This is especially the case with regards to the "Lamont Williams" calls to African American male voters.  Unlike the VPC calls to married women which stated "Hi, just a reminder: your voter registration form is in the mail and on its way to you. Your voice counts, and your vote makes them listen. Sign it, date it, and send it in. Thanks," the calls to these men was much more insistent on the need to take action with phrases like "need to do" and "then you will be able": "All you need to do is fill it out, sign it, date and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard."  Then, as in you can't yet.

Moreover, of course, WVWV was on actual notice that voters found the calls to be confusing, via the complaints and media articles in previous states.  So on the whole I just don't find this explanation plausible.

Here's a story I would find plausible, though I must stress that this is only my conjecture, based on what we know publicly and my private conversations with voter targeting professionals:  suppose WVWV's primary goal was not to register as many new voters as possible, but the slightly different goals of (a) reaching out to as many targets as possible and (b) generating as many voter registration forms being filed as possible.

Both goals would generate impressive-seeming statistics which can be used to impress funders as well as the board of directors, both of which are crucial as to the group's overall viability.  Assume it's true, as others have claimed, that you can generate a lot of responses from a call for registrations post-deadline, pre-primary.  But if that's the case, what WVWV was also generating was a number of false positives -- registered voters being contacted who don't need to re-register, but who will do so anyway because now they believe they have to.  Making robocalls and sending materials that looked official, that did not clearly disclose their source as non-governmental (certainly not the calls), and which did not make clear that already-registered-voters need do nothing ... well, that ends up furthering the goals -- if "boosting the number of forms sent in" supersedes voter confusion as a priority, and especially if boosting those numbers generates higher revenues to WVWV vendors with significant ties to the Board and leadership team.

In other words, voter confusion may have become a recognized, but undisclosed cost, accepted as necessary to maximize certain overall metrics  -- and to be fair, we have no idea just how extensively voters were confused here.  It could end up being a very small number -- or one which WVWV underestimated -- and we can certainly debate how much confusion might be an acceptable cost based on the number of successful new voter registrations generated.

I want to be clear about two things: (1) that's only a theory, so please don't treat it as proven; and (2) voter registration is hard, unglamorous and difficult-to-fundraise-for work.  Regardless of what may have happened this year, WVWV's past successes are undeniable, and it is incumbent upon all of us to support those groups like Project Vote and Rock the Vote which do this necessary work on the ground level.  This is especially true in the wake of the onerous voter ID laws now approved by the Supreme Court (with immediate dire, bizarre consequences).  I hope that Women's Voices Women Vote again gives me the confidence to include them again on such a list of righteous organizations, but they've got a lot of work to do first.

The following is an update on where our investigation into illegal and deceptive election practices and Women's Voices Women Vote stands. A special thank you to the DailyKos community for paying close attention to this story. As you can see, the basic facts of the investigation have not been challenged, and many questions remain unanswered. We will continue to pursue this story until the truth is brought to light. Thanks again. - Chris, Facing South  P.S. -- Please rec this story, keep it alive! Also, see important update at bottom.

It has been a week now since Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies published our first investigation into the mysterious "Lamont Williams" robo-calls (listen to the audio file here) that blanketed North Carolina on the eve of the state's critical primary elections.

Over the past week, our ongoing investigation has ignited a national firestorm. We'd like to take a moment to reflect on what brought us here, and offer our best sense of where the issue stands.

The voter suppression scandal involving Women's Voices Women Vote continued to grow yesterday, as the North Carolina NAACP filed a formal complaint of possible voter suppression against the group, which has deep ties to Hillary Clinton, for its deceptive and illegal robocalls and mailings in North Carolina. As reported by Facing South and the News & Observer, the NC NAACP hand-delivered its complaint to state Attorney General Roy Cooper and State Board of Elections Executive Director Gary Bartlett on Saturday. The NAACP said it is also alerting the U.S. Department of Justice that it is collecting more information from its national network and is contemplating filing a formal complaint with that agency. The NAACP's complaint is extensive and troubling, to say the least.

Any one who has visited Facing South, TPM or dailykos is well aware the irregularities surrounding Women' Voices Women's Vote group and the issues surrounding these repetitive violations of not just the law, but of common sense.

Say what you will about the matter: I think Facing South did a great job at revealing the facts..

There is a clear pattern of activity of providing bogus information, as outlined on that diary above. These are not 'tin foil' claims; these involve in many cases either law enforcement or authorized officials inside the Democratic Party structure making statements to try to straighten the messes made by WVWV robo calls.  

Now, we may argue about whether these events that span 12 States, and involve potentially millions of votes already cast were a result of gross incompetence or outright criminality. But one thing is for certain: hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent [if not more] to place robo-calls to people which could not have had the desired effect.

What's this diary about? Take the jump.  

As the voter suppression scandal involving Women's Voices Women vote continues to escalate, the group appears to be in serious CYA/spin mode.  The WVWV board is reportedly having an emergency meeting; the group has trotted out some board members to make public statements of their full support for the group; WVWV got a piece written in Salon in which it claims their problems in NC are due to incompetence (plus they don't really focus on women anyway); and Julia Louis Dreyfus, who is featured in a WVWV PSA urging women to elect a woman as president, tries to explain away the video on Huffington Post. But all this smoke and mirrors leaves the most important questions unanswered, and raises even more questions that I have for WVWV.

*I've changed the title.  Thanks for the tips!  Sorry about that.

This is my first diary and I’m not sure exactly if I’m doing everything correctly or not.  I apologize in advance for anything and everything that I’ve done wrong.

I’m pretty new to Dkos, political ranting and spending WAY too much time on the internet reading every site, post, blog, etc. that concerns this election.  I dream in open tabs...

Now for the rant...

Yesterday National Public Radio's All Things Considered program aired a good story on the North Carolina Robocall scandal that describes some of the key problems with the robocalls by Women's Voices Women Vote (WVWV).  NPR has also uncovered some clear conflict of interest issues that could put WVWV in more legal hot water and does a great job of summarizing the many Clinton connections that run throughout the organization. It's great reporting.

The latest controversy concerning robocalls and mailings that confuse African American voters is puzzling. Until you realize that the President, Page Gardner, is a supporter and contributor to Hillary Clinton.

Yesterday, through some mutual friends, I was invited by a representative of Women's Voices Women Vote to submit questions to them to which they would respond, pledging to reprint their answers in full.  These were my questions, and their answers, via spokesperson Sarah Johnson:

For the NC calls:
What types of voters were being targeted?

While our focus is on unmarried women, we have worked to target other under-represented groups in through our project, the Voter Participation Center.  Like many other organizations, WVWV focuses on registering unregistered voters across the country from demographic groups that are underrepresented in our democracy. Specifically we target unregistered voters and voters that have previously been registered but have moved and need to reregister. While our focus is unmarried women, we have also worked to motivate African Americans, Hispanics and young people just turning 18 years of age to register.

Since last July WVWV has generated about 400,000 voter registration applications; from coast to coast from underrepresented demographic groups.  Already in this period WVWV has successfully encouraged more than 27,000 individuals to register in North Carolina alone.

On what dates were calls being made?

Last Thursday and Friday

What steps are being taken to correct any misinformation?  Will WVWV be placing a follow-up set of calls to assure these folks that if they previously registered to vote, they need do nothing else?

We have communicated with the North Carolina State Board of Elections to notify them that WVWV is prepared to work with them to address any confusion that may have resulted from this recent activity.  In addition, one of the first things WVWV did after hearing peoples' concerns was to contact bloggers and others that had gotten in touch with us.  We have also worked with the firm that does our mailing to see if there was a way the mailing could be held and not delivered, and to begin a dialogue with folks to clear up any remaining confusion.

We have had significant success in delaying the mail in North Carolina.   We understand that a majority of the mail that was going to North Carolina will not be delivered, and our folks are continuing to try to make sure that as much of the NC mail as possible is held until a later date.

Who is Lamont Williams, and why was an African American male voice used for a voter registration drive (presumably) targeted at unmarried women?

Mr. Williams is a professional voice talent.  While the primary goal of WVWV is to register unmarried women to vote, the Voter Participation Center, a project of WVWV works to engage other under-represented Americans.  There were two recorded calls made.  The call from Lamont Williams went to men, and a recorded call from a female was used to contact women.  

Why no disclosure on the calls as to your sponsorship of them?

That was a mistake. We regret the error and will ensure it does not happen
again.  

In general:
What other states have received calls, and when?  [what voter pools?]

Prospective registrants received calls in 24 states during the same timeframe.  [Last Thursday-Friday.]  As stated above WVWV focuses its efforts on registering traditionally underrepresented individuals.  

[Added: On February 6-7, more than 4.1 million homes [were contacted] in 22 states: Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington State, and Wisconsin.]

How were the dates for calling determined?  Was it in reference to the primary registration deadline or primary election date?

The calls were scheduled to coincide with the arrival of the voter registration applications. We regret any confusion that has arised as a consequence of this timing.  

Did the feedback from states like Wisconsin lead to any changes in how WVWV implemented this program?

WVWV always welcomes feedback from those who are tasked with maximizing the number of people that are registered to vote and to get voters to participate in our great democracy.  WVWV has made a significant number of changes to its mailings at the request of various state officials and welcomes communication with such officials. We would note that we notify these offices when we are sending the mail. In the case of North Carolina we also issued a press release to tell people that the mailing was coming and that it was intended for the general election, not the primary.

Have WVWV staff members communicated or coordinated in any way with any political campaign in implementing this program?

No.

And this is a new statement from board member John Podesta:

Women's Voices. Women Vote has a strong record of registering disenfranchised people so that they can participate in the political process.  As a board member, I was aware of the general parameters of the group's voter registration program, but not the details of its execution.  With respect to the calls and mailings made in North Carolina, I understand that remedial action is being undertaken.  I agree with fellow board member William McNary that the North Carolina state calling program  was a mistake of judgment and execution, and not an attempt to disenfranchise voters, and have been assured by Page Gardner, President of WVWV, that the organization will conduct a full and prompt accounting of the circumstances of the voter registration program for its board of directors.  

Reaction: First off, I am not inclined to believe that this was a conspiracy for voter suppression designed from the highest reaches of the Clinton campaign.  I think such a view misunderstands the typical role of a Board of Directors with a nonprofit organization.  As someone who serves on several such boards, I can tell you that we're not there every day and don't run things on a day-to-day basis.  That's what the staff is for, and I do find it difficult to believe that a Board of Directors with such diverse interests would deliberately direct a scheme to misdirect and misinform duly registered voters.

That said, I am deeply, disappointed that a group has done research and media outreach as well as WVWV has could screw this up so badly.  Over and over again, voters and officials in states like Virginia, Oregon, Wisconsin and Michigan complained that these calls were going on (a) at times likely to provoke voter confusion as to their registration status and (b) without disclosing their source.  And still, WVWV did it again in North Carolina.  [The anonymous calls are particularly troubling, given WVWV's pledge months ago to identify themselves on all calls.]

The basic problem is this: when you call people who are registered to vote and give them the impression that they are not, then compound the error by making such calls at a time when there's nothing the voter can do about it, you're going to lead to a lot of registered voters who believe they're unable to vote.  Whether the result of deliberate design or massive negligence on the part of WVWV and/or its vendors in terms of the timing of the calls and the determination of who would be called, the end result is something which rightly raised suspicions about the intent of this program.

I understand that some have defended WVWV by arguing that post-primary deadline is actually the most successful time to register voters, but not when you're consistently confusing voters and angering state elections boards while doing so.  Given the complaints, this should have been fixed or ended long before now.

Honestly, I don't think WVWV has gone far enough to fix the mess they've made.  A press release and withholding some of the mailing isn't enough.  I believe they're obligated to go through the list of every NC resident/residence they called and determine who is eligible to vote.  They should explain to those voters that they were reached in error and should show up and vote on May 6.  They should call back the unregistered voters and inform them that one-stop absentee registration and voting is still available until Saturday.  And they should explain who they are, and how WVWV can be reached if there's any questions.

[When an Obama campaign vendor accidentally called thousands of Washington state voters with the wrong caucus date, they re-called all of them -- at their own expense.]

Big errors require big solutions, and I believe steps like these could confirm the good faith which so many of us had in WVWV's work.

Stefanielaine has a great diary on the rec list about the action she took to voice her concerns about the current robo-call voter disenfranchisement scandal that is enveloping the nonprofit group Women's Voices. Women Vote (WVWV).  As we all know by now, in numerous primary states WVWV - which has extensive ties to Hillary Clinton - has been engaging in a pattern of deceptive and possibly illegal tactics that appear intended to confuse and disenfranchise voters, particularly voters who are less likely to support Hillary Clinton.  Following up on stefanielaine's action, I'd like to suggest another action item that kossacks can take today: contact WVWV's funders.  

UPDATE: Please see the important update at the bottom!

UPDATE II: I've asked Adam B for the chance to respond to the answers Sarah Johnson of Women's Voices gave to his front-page interview. They've given their side, I'd like to have a chance to respond to several inaccuracies in their statements on the front page. I am still waiting for Adam's response.

[Promoted by DHinMI: Robocalls in North Carolina are confusing voters and have the appearance of voter suppression.  It turns out the source of the calls is a Democratic-leaning non-profit.  The director of the organization apologizes for the "confusion" caused by her organization, but as this diary makes clear, the organization has had a series of problems prior to primaries.  And it should be pointed out that a non-profit group focusing efforts on registering unmarried women in presidential primaries has to know that their activities will almost certainly help Hillary Clinton, as unmarried white women is probably her strongest demographic.  Clearly we need to hear more of an explanation about this pattern of problems.]  

Yesterday, I posted a recommended diary here about thousands of deceptive, anonymous and likely illegal robo-calls blanketing North Carolina shortly before the state's primaries on May 6.

The follow-up below is the result of hours of investigative work over the last 24 hours, including helpful tips from DKos members. Thank you for your assistance in helping us tell this important story.

Please note: Women's Voices Women Vote appears to be a legitimate organization; people we respect support their work. However, we believe that the tactics revealed in our story, as well as the effect they are having on confusing and potentially disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters -- especially right before critical primaries -- are cause for deep concern and raise critical questions about ethical election practices. -- Chris

Big, fat, drug-abusing, sexist Rush has decided to attack Women's Voices. Women Vote. the group that produced the PSAs you've been seeing here and on other blogs, featuring actresses talking about the empowerment of voting. Make that the non-partisan group, putting up non-partisan ads encouraging 20 million single women who didn't vote in 2004 to vote in 2006.

Apparently, Limbaugh and the right feel threatened by that.

Limbaugh: More Drive-By Media in action, ladies and gentlemen. I want to tell you about a group out there. You may have heard of them; you may have not. The name of the group is "Women's Voices. Women Vote." They were profiled sort of today on Good Morning America by Claire Shipman. Claire Shipman referred to the group "Women's Voices. Women's Vote," as a "nonpartisan group." Mark Finkelstein at NewsBusters.org, which is this Media Research Center's watchdog group on the liberal media, went to their website to look at biographies of their key members. . . .  Some further digging reveals that WVWV is directly promoting leftist politics. On its FAQ page, WVWV suggests that people who want to get involved 'download the National Council of Women's Organizations voter's guide.'

"[Finkelstein] did, and found a predictable compendium of leftist position-mongering on everything from affirmative action to abortion. Query whether promoting a partisan voter's guide bring's WVWV's non-partisan tax-exempt status into question," but Claire Shipman presented this group as "nonpartisan."

Now, gawd forbid that anyone try to reach out to one of the most unrepresented voting blocs in the country. And who'd have thunk that the issues single women would be concerned about "leftist" issues (pdf) like pay equity, access to reproductive health services, medical insurance, minimum wage, social security, women in the military.... You can just hear the teeny, tiny gears in Rush's addled brain: "Why don't they talk about the death tax? Don't they care about prayer in school? Flag burning? Gay marriage? Now where'd I put that oxycontin?"

But what's really disturbing is Rush's veiled threat, implying that WVWV's tax status will be challenged. He is trying to undermine this nonpartisan effort and suppress women's votes.  He also focuses heavily on the fact that GMA featured the organization and it's PSAs, in what is a transparent attempt to intimidate the media as being left-wing if they run the PSA. This is likely to signal the beginning of a concerted effort by the right-wing to shut down WVWV's efforts to get more women to the polls.

The best way to fight back is to join WVWV in registering single women to vote, in talking to them about the critical issues, and in getting them out to the polls on November 7.