* Calls wrongly tell some that they can vote by phone
* Menacing billboards loom over poor, minority neighborhoods
* Groups' plans to send monitors to polls criticized
WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - In Florida, Virginia and
Indiana, voters have received phone calls that wrongly told them
there was no need to cast a ballot in person on Election Day
because they could vote by phone.
In Ohio and Wisconsin, billboards in mostly low-income and
minority neighborhoods showed prisoners behind bars and warned
of criminal penalties for voter fraud - an effort that voting
rights groups say was designed to intimidate minority voters.
And across the nation, some employers - notably David and
Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who help fund the
conservative group Americans for Prosperity - are pushing their
workers to vote for Republican Mitt Romney for president.
Two weeks before what could be one of the closest
presidential elections in U.S. history, efforts to mislead,
intimidate or pressure voters are an increasingly prominent part
of the political landscape. Analysts say tactics typically seen
in the last few days before an election are already in play.
"We've seen an uptick in deceptive and intimidating tactics
designed to prevent eligible Americans from voting," said Eric
Marshall of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law,
who manages a coalition that has a telephone hot line
(1-866-OUR-VOTE) that collects tips on alleged voter
intimidation.
Democrats have been more vocal in complaining about such
antics. They also cite groups linked to the conservative Tea
Party movement that are training tens of thousands of people to
monitor polling places on Nov. 6 for voter fraud. The
controversial plan has been criticized as an attempt to delay or
discourage voting.
But Republicans also have been behind some of the
complaints, which have been focused largely on the eight or so
politically divided swing states that are likely to decide the
race between Romney and Democratic President Barack Obama.
Kurtis Killian, a Republican from St. Augustine, Florida,
was among those in three states who have reported receiving
calls that encouraged them to vote by phone so they would not
have to go to the polls.
Killian said he received a call from a man who identified
himself as an employee of the Florida Division of Elections.
Killian said he refused the caller's offer to cast his vote by
phone then reported the call to local elections officials.
"I know there is no such thing as phone voting," Killian
said. But "for someone who can't get out easily," such as
elderly or disabled voters, "they might go for that - it would
be convenient for them. Once you think you voted ... you won't
go to the polls. My vote would be canceled out."
Virginia's State Board of Elections received similar
complaints from at least 10 people - most of them elderly - who
said they had been urged to vote by phone.
Voters in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, reported similar phone
calls in September, sparking an investigation by the Secretary
of State's office, which oversees Indiana elections.
The probe has focused on a firm called Vote USA. It is
unclear who was behind the group; its phone number is no longer
active. The Secretary of State urged voters who receive a call
from Vote USA to ignore it.
BILLBOARDS IN WISCONSIN, OHIO
Democratic lawmakers and activists in Wisconsin and Ohio -
the most coveted of all the swing states in the presidential
race because the winner there is likely to win the White House -
are angry about several dozen billboard signs that have popped
up in recent weeks, warning of stiff penalties for voter fraud.
The billboards were put up in mostly black and low-income
communities. Most had a large picture of a judge's gavel and
said "Voter Fraud is a Felony!" punishable by up to 3-1/2 years
in prison and a $10,000 fine. They were paid for by an anonymous
group described only as "private family foundation."
Other billboards showed prisoners in jumpsuits peering
through prison bars. Community leaders said the signs were aimed
at blacks and Hispanics and the poor as well as ex-convicts -
all groups that tend to vote Democratic.
City Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland, whose district in
Cleveland includes several of the billboards, said the
billboards were designed to intimidate.
"I'm worried they will actually scare some of the
ex-offenders, people with felony records who can vote," said
Cleveland, who added that there is confusion about felons voting
because it is illegal in some states. In Ohio, 12 other states
and Washington, D.C., felons who are not behind bars may vote.
In response to the complaints, the billboard company, Clear
Channel Outdoor, said last weekend that it would take down about
140 billboards in Ohio and Wisconsin that had been scheduled to
stay up until Nov. 6 - Election Day. The company said it has a
policy against putting anonymous political messages on
billboards and that it erred in agreeing to the contract.
Some Ohio residents who decided to vote early to avoid long
lines on Election Day said they were angry about the billboards.
A few compared them with efforts in more than 30 states to
impose new voting restrictions, such as requiring voters to
produce a photo ID. Several photo ID laws have been tossed aside
or delayed by courts.
"There is a concerted effort to keep specific groups from
the polls," said Camilo Villa, 24, who lives in the Cleveland
area and voted early for Obama. "It's very concerning."
PRESSURE BY EMPLOYERS
Meanwhile, some employers have pressured workers to support
certain candidates in the presidential race and other elections.
Such employers seem to be taking advantage of a 2010 Supreme
Court ruling that overturned laws that banned employers from
directly expressing their political opinions to their employees.
Critics of the so-called Citizens United ruling - which also
led to the creation of big-money "Super PACs," or political
action committees that can raise and spend unlimited amounts and
have been a force in this presidential campaign - say it could
make workers feel coerced into voting for certain candidates.
Several companies have sent out letters urging their
employees to vote for Romney. The Koch brothers, who have given
millions of dollars to back Romney and other Republicans, have
come under fire for sending a "voter information packet" to
45,000 employees of Koch Industries' Georgia Pacific.
The packet, obtained by the political magazine In These
Times, includes a list of candidates the company supports, with
Romney at the top of the list. It also includes a letter from
Koch Industries President David Robertson saying that "many of
our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer
the consequences" if voters elect candidates who increase
regulations and hinder free trade - a presumed jab at Obama.
Some Democrats accused Georgia Pacific of trying to force
workers into voting for Romney.
Lynn Rhinehart, general counsel for the AFL-CIO, the largest
group of labor unions in the United States, said that employers
may communicate with their workers about candidate choices, but
should not link a vote with keeping their jobs.
"There could be legal issues with how it is that they are
communicating with employees," Rhinehart said in a media call to
discuss the election and intimidation tactics.
Georgia Pacific spokesman Greg Guest said the company's
mailing was not an attempt to "intimidate" employees and that
many companies and unions give members similar information.
"Unions and newspapers go further than this and actually
endorse candidates to their members and readers," Guest said in
a statement.
THE 'POLL CHALLENGERS'
Voting rights groups have raised concerns about volunteer
"poll challengers" who will be out on Election Day to try to
prevent what they see as possible voter fraud.
One group, called True the Vote, hopes to train up to one
million people before Nov. 6. Rights groups say the large
numbers of monitors could be intimidating and discourage some
people - particularly minorities - from voting.
"We expect organizations like True the Vote to try to
intimidate people ... (by) indicating to voters, possibly
Latinos, 'You know you've got to be a documented citizen to
vote,'" said Arlene Holt Baker, vice president of the AFL-CIO.
True the Vote's founder, Catherine Engelbrecht, disputed the
notion that her group's election monitors might keep
legitimately registered voters from casting ballots.
"We have seen no evidence about voter intimidation by TTV
volunteers at the polls," she told Reuters in an e-mail.
In New Mexico, meanwhile, the state attorney general is
investigating possible voter suppression after a video -
secretly recorded by a group called ProgressNowNM - was
circulated showing a Republican Party leader giving false
information to volunteer poll monitors.
The Republican official can be heard saying that challengers
could demand that voters show IDs and could prevent voters from
requesting interpreters - neither of which are true. New Mexico
does not require an ID to vote and interpreters are allowed.
Ballots also are available in Spanish.
State Attorney General Gary King, a Democrat, said his
office had received several complaints that appeared to show a
"concerted effort afoot to discourage some New Mexicans from
exercising their right to vote this November."
