Robocall from Shadowy Right-Wing Group Says Ohio Vote is Wednesday [UPDATED]

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


As Ohio voters head to the polls to cast ballots on two much-anticipated referendums—Issue 2, a referendum to repeal Gov. John Kasich’s anti-union law, and Issue 3, a constitutional amendment to block the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate—a conservative outside spending group is blanketing the state with misleading robocalls that could potentially hurt turnout. 

The calls, funded by the Iowa-based American Future Fund, urge Ohioans to vote yes on Issues 2 and 3 on Wednesday—Election Day is Tuesday—to uphold Kasich’s law and pass the constitutional amendment. The message was received around 9:30 am Tuesday by an Ohio resident and employee of the Services Employees International Union, who recorded the message. The SEIU employee, Josh Schafer, said the caller ID listed the number the call originated from as “000-000-0000.”

Here’s the script of the call, followed by the audio itself:

Hi, I’m calling to remind you that tomorrow is Election Day. It is critically important that you go vote to protect the future of our country. Tomorrow, please go to the polls and vote yes on Issue 2 and vote yes on Issue 3. Paid for by American Future Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. 866-559-5854.

American Future Fund Nov. 8 Ohio Robo-call (mp3)

A 501(c)(4) non-profit, the American Future Fund, which spent $25 million in the midterms, can raise unlimited funds and does not have to disclose its donors. As a so-called “social welfare” organization, the group can engage in pure political advocacy but cannot make it the majority of what it does. During his 2010 re-election campaign, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) revealed that AFF’s official listed address was in fact a mailbox at a UPS store in Des Moines, Iowa.

This isn’t the first time the American Future Fund has fudged the truth in its messaging. FactCheck.org found that four of AFF’s ads targeting the federal health care reform bill featured false or misleading information.

The American Future Fund did not immediately respond to a request for comment. We’ll update this post if and when we hear back.

[UPDATE]: A spokeswoman for the American Future Fund told Politico the erroneous phone call was the result of “gross incompetence by our phone vendor.” The spokeswoman, Mandy Fletcher Fraher, added, “If they don’t get a live caller, the person gets a recorded message and our phone vendor produced that message. Obviously, we support Issues 2 and 3. It was not intended to be misleading.”

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate