Raul Murillo waited a long time to cast his ballot for Barack Obama, and he's smart enough to know you can't do that with a simple phone call.
Murillo, a business owner in Reno, says he foiled an attempt to silence his vote after a woman called him and claimed he could show his support by phone.
"The lady, she was trying to get all my information," he says, "They tried to offer me to vote early, you know, October 13 by phone." Murillo says he refused the offer immediately, knowing it wasn't real.
"I say, I can't give you my vote by phone because I'm not sure you are going to put it for Obama," he explained. He says the woman became excited and talked as though she supported the Democrat as well.
"I think, oh no, there's something wrong," said Murillo.
He said he figured the woman would seek things like his Social Security number and address. "I refused and she cut the call."
The next day he went to the a nearby Obama campaign to complain about the incident. When the campaign tried to return the call to the number that appeared on Murillo's phone, they found it was no longer in service.
"I wanted to share my story with the public so that other people don't fall into this trap," he said.
The Obama-Biden campaign calls this incident the latest at voter suppression, and a repeat of tactics targeting Latino voters in Florida in the 2004 presidential election campaign. In Reno, the campaign noted such a telephone scam is illegal and reminded voters if they prefer to vote early in Nevada it must be done in person.
http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9229953Edited to add, Obama campaign responds with action:
New robo-calls encourage Latino vote
Outraged by robo-calls deemed "scummy" by Democratic leaders, Barack Obama's campaign is fighting back with... robo-calls.
The Nevada Campaign for Change announced Thursday that it will embrace the controversial tactic to set the record straight for Latino voters who may have been deceived by phone calls telling them not to go to the polls.
"We are putting Republicans on notice," said Nevada Communications Director Kirsten Searer. The robo-calls will be circulated to Latino households in English and Spanish, a portion of the script reads: "Some voters have received incorrect phone calls offering to help vote over the phone. Voting over the phone is not possible!"
The campaign has also sent a letter to Secretary of State Ross Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto, describing "bogus" calls made to Latino voters in Northern Nevada. Voters say they were asked personal information, and upon confirming they would vote for Obama, they were told to cast their ballot by phone.
As it has in the past, the Latino vote will be critical for both campaigns this year, but recent Gallup polls found McCain losing massive support among the Latino community, specifically around Nevada and the Southwest. The Arizona senator's campaign was dealt another blow Thursday when several Hispanic media outlets announced a press conference in Las Vegas to show their support for Obama.
~snip~
http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9229869
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