Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Pima County Voter Says Flake Campaign Sent Her To Wrong Polling Place

Posted By on Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 2:00 PM

In light of the stories about Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Flake's campaign calling Democrats to steer them to incorrect polling places: The Range spoke earlier today with Rolande Baker, a 61-year-old English teacher who has been a Democrat, in her words, "since I was born."

She's also lived at her home near Oracle and Magee for 27 years, so she knows where her polling place is. This year, it's at St. Odilia Catholic Church, 7570 N. Paseo del Norte.

But Baker tells The Range that on Saturday, Nov. 3, she got a robocall from Republican Jeff Flake's U.S. Senate campaign that told her that her polling place was somewhere on Old Nogales Highway on the southside.

Baker says the recorded message "said something about Jeff Flake and don't forget to vote. And then she said 'I just want you know that your polling place is on Old Nogales Highway.' And I thought, 'Oh my God, why is she saying that?'"

Baker said she wasn't fooled by the call, but she said others might be.

"What if I wasn't someone who votes all the time, who knows her polling place?" she asked. "What if I was just someone new? I would have been so confused."

The Range has reached out to Team Flake spokesman Andrew Wilder for comment.

UPDATE: Andrew Wilder tells The Range:

We intended to contact a Joseph Charles Baker, who is a registered Republican. The phone number on Mr. Baker's voter registration on file with the county is identical to that of Ms. Baker. The polling location provided in our message (Pima precinct 54) is accurate for Mr. Baker's address that is on file with the county. That address is different than the one on file for Ms. Baker.

Again, Mr. Baker was the voter our call intended to reach — he is a registered Republican.

This situation is consistent with the small handful of other cases that media has reported — and consists of a minute fraction of the 120,000 calls that was made to registered Republicans on Saturday.