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Charges filed over robocalls allegedly designed to discourage voting

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Illinois

Elected officials in Michigan and Illinois say a racially charged robocall has been targeting voters this week with misinformation about mail-in balloting.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson tweeted out a recording of the call on Thursday. The call falsely claims that mail-in voters will have their personal information shared with law enforcement “to track down old warrants” and that they could be added to a list for “mandatory vaccines.” […]

The robocalls hitting Detroit also targeted voters in Chicago, according to Alderman Pat Dowell, a Democrat, who posted on Facebook that she personally got a call at home Wednesday night. Dowell told CNN on Thursday that she informed the Chicago Board of Elections about the robocalls and would be warning her constituents about the misinformation.

“This was an attempt to suppress, in my case, my community, an African American community, solidly Democratic, suppress voter turnout in this upcoming general election,” Dowell said.

* NBC5 on September 3rd…

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Thursday warned residents to be on alert for robocalls with false claims about voting by mail in the upcoming election, advising anyone with questions about voting by mail to contact election authorities.

Voters have reported receiving calls with an automated recording falsely claiming that voting by mail could result in their private information being given to third parties like “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track people for mandatory vaccines, police departments and law enforcement in order to locate individuals who have outstanding warrants, and creditors to help find people who owe outstanding debt,” Raoul said in a statement.

* Press release…

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed charges today against two political operatives for allegedly orchestrating a series of robocalls aimed at suppressing the vote in the November general election.
Jack Burkman, 54, and Jacob Wohl, 22, are each charged with:

• One count of election law – intimidating voters, a five-year felony;
• One count of conspiracy to commit an election law violation, a five-year felony;
• One count of using a computer to commit the crime of election law – intimidating voters, a seven-year felony; and
• Using a computer to commit the crime of conspiracy, a seven-year felony.

The charges were filed today in the 36th District Court in Detroit. Arraignment is pending for the defendants. The Attorney General’s office will be working – with local law enforcement if necessary – to secure the appearance of each defendant in Michigan. It’s too early to say if formal extradition will be necessary or if they will present themselves here voluntarily in the very near future.

Burkman, an Arlington, Virginia resident, and Wohl, a Los Angeles, California resident, allegedly attempted to discourage voters from participating in the general election by creating and funding a robocall targeted at certain urban areas, including Detroit. The calls were made in late August and went out to nearly 12,000 residents with phone numbers from the 313 area code.

During its investigation, Nessel’s office communicated with attorneys general offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, all of which reported similar robocalls being made to residents in their states who live in urban areas with significant minority populations. It’s believed around 85,000 calls were made nationally, though an exact breakdown of the numbers of calls to each city or state are not available.

* Who are these guys?…

Famed for conspiracy theories and slapdash media briefings in Burkman’s driveway, Wohl and Burkman have been booted from social media sites including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for their outlandish claims, including bogus sexual assault accusations against special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:29 am

Comments

Funny how everyone being charged with “voter fraud” are the same people constantly complaining about it.

Comment by NIU Grad Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:32 am
I think the phrase their fellow travelers overuse so frequently works here, “lock them up”. Hopefully multiple states go after these and make a prime example of what happens to lowlifes of this ilk.

Comment by former southerner Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:34 am
So much for the lie that there is no vote fraud or voter registration fraud. Of course, this isn’t the first time this has happened; look up what happened in Indiana in 2016.

Comment by thisjustintagain Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 10:41 am
The projection of Trumpkins to voter fraud and such, you need to see what is being found, not what the conspiracy pushers want projected away from the actual.

At some point, Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl were gonna run afoul of the law as they can’t grasp how laws work as they try to usurp the franchise of voting for others

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:00 am
“So much for the lie that there is no vote fraud or voter registration fraud.”

What in the world are you rattling about?

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:04 am
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

This (banned word) needs to be rooted out and fully prosecuted, and these two clowns have been asking for it for years. Glad to see they might finally be held accountable.

Comment by fs Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:08 am
Manufacturing the vote fraud they can’t find.

Comment by Froganon Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:15 am
These are the same geniuses who allegedly staged a fake FBI raid on their office, then stiffed the actors they’d hired. Funny how things work out sometimes.

Comment by Barnaby Wilde Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:16 am
The two also had people make false allegations against Dr. Fauci and Kamala Harris. They are really awful people.

Comment by City Guy Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:16 am
The Youtube channel “Internet Today” has been documenting the antics of Mr. Wohl and Burkman for the past two years. They have a handy playlist for so-called “Wohl Watchers” that enjoy witnessing these clowns repeatedly humiliate themselves in one futile scheme after another.

Grab a beer this weekend and check it out. It’s highly entertaining stuff if you are a fan of schadenfraude.

Comment by sulla Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:18 am
I was going to post was sulla just said, so I’m just going to add it goes well with a cabernet as well.

Comment by Cheryl44 Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:38 am
” It’s highly entertaining stuff if you are a fan of schadenfraude.”

Karma’s having a banner day today.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 11:57 am
=Karma’s having a banner day today.

– MrJM=

Maybe even being redefined.

Comment by JS Mill Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 12:18 pm
Jacob Wohl is a piece of work. But truly they both win the moron of the week award for putting their names in the robocall so authorities would know how to find them.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 2:00 pm
Less than smooth criminals.

Comment by Dotnonymous Friday, Oct 2, 20 @ 2:10 pm