Chicago Election Judges Receive Robocalls With False Instructions

FILE - In this March 18, 2014 file photo, voters cast their ballots in the state's primary election in Urbana, Ill. Illinois voters could register to vote on Election Day, have more time to cast early ballots and not... FILE - In this March 18, 2014 file photo, voters cast their ballots in the state's primary election in Urbana, Ill. Illinois voters could register to vote on Election Day, have more time to cast early ballots and not be required to bring photo identification to vote early under a plan state lawmakers have approved. Democrats pushed the legislation on the second-to-last day of the spring session in May with the idea that it'll improve November turnout. However, Republicans claim it is part of a larger effort to boost Democrats' numbers at the polls. (AP Photo/News-Gazette, John Dixon, File) MANDATORY CREDIT MORE LESS
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Election judges in Chicago received mysterious automated phone calls with false instructions over the weekend, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

Election officials said the calls were part of “a serious attempt to disrupt” the voting process.

Some of the calls informed election judges, who are in charge of running polling places, that they needed to undergo additional training. Other calls told them that they were required to vote a certain way in order to work as election judges.

Jim Allen, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections, said they’re unsure how many of the misleading calls went out.

“Given the level of response that we received, we suspect it was a large number of people — we don’t know how large,” he told the Sun Times.

Election judge Danny Bravman said he received two phone calls telling him he needed to attend training at “very out-of-the-way locations.”

“If I call back the number, it says that the message originated from a marketing firm or a paid political organization,” Bravman said. “I haven’t received any official correspondence about additional training sessions. So it seems rather obvious that someone is impersonating the board of elections.”

The Cook County Republican Party told the Sun Times that they were not behind the calls, and the Democratic Party did not return the Sun Times’ phone call.

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  1. Avatar for enon enon says:

    these attempts need to be prosecuted… and not just some bullshit fine; but some serious jail time for attempting to interfere with the vote…

  2. The weirdest thing about voting in chicago now is that you not only don’t need a photo id, you don’t need any id or registration card at all.

    You just say your name, and they check out electronically, that the person you say you are lives where you say you live, and that that person has not yet voted.

  3. Why don’t people go to jail for this sort of thing? Examples need to be set.

  4. You also have to provide your signature, which they check against the one in their system. They didn’t ask me where I lived.

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