Just after the presidential conventions were over this summer, I decided that for the course of the election, I would track the number of calls that I received from each political party. I then declared to myself that I was going to vote for the side that called me the least. I have to admit, that I am not confident I would have stuck to my guns here, if things had gone differently.
I was so happy when the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act of 2003 (Public Law No. 108-10) was signed into law on March 11, 2003. I logged into DoNotCall.gov the very first day it was available in June 2003, and entered all of my phone numbers. What a godsend! I have several phone lines, and was getting 3-5 unwanted calls a day. This has dropped off to only the occasional call from a Do-Not-Call violator, which I promptly report to https://donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx
The only fly in the ointment is that survey-takers, charities and political organizations are still allowed to call those listed in the Do-Not-Call registry. During the 2004 presidential election, I was bombarded by phone calls. My personal belief is this: If someone has gone to the trouble to sign up for the registry, this means that they do not want to be called. If you are trying to get someone to do something for you (vote, contribute, volunteer – whatever) why start off by aggravating them with an unwanted phone call? Why not respect the wishes of those in the registry, even if legally you don’t have to?
So, back to Election 2008. I have logged every call I have received on all 3 of my land lines. The score, just one week before election day, is a stunning landslide with 31 calls coming in from the Red Team, and a modest 5 from the Blue. In addition, 3 of the 5 calls from the Blue side were actually from a human being, who I could at least tell about my system. All but 2 from the Reds were those annoying robo-calls. Wouldn’t it be cool if I woke up in a Blue State next Wednesday?
Contributed by Dawn in Virginia
We have received only Obama calls, probably 6 calls and all from real people, but we are in Seattle which will probably vote of 75% for Obama.
We are also in the Seattle area. The Republics don’t try to call here. Our big contest is for Governor where we have a Republic who won’t even admit that he is a Republican and who is running as a change agent. What a joke, he wants to change back to anti-abortion, lower the minimum wage, etc. A real piece of work.