My note, Regulating Robocalls: Are Automated Calls the Sound of, or a Threat to, Democracy? discusses the federal and state laws that limit the use of automated political phone calls. Robocalls are a popular campaign tool because of how cheap they are, with vendors like Winning Calls.com charging pennies per call to reach lists of thousands of voters. Because political calls are exempt from the federal Do Not Call Registry, many people who otherwise avoid phone solicitations receive unwanted political robocalls. This has caused some people to turn to a private do-not-robocall list and motivated states to pass a patchwork of laws:
This state-based approach has created a problem: conflicting laws that national campaigns have trouble navigating. This problem motivated one national political group to request an advisory letter from the Federal Elections Commission declaring that federal law preempts these state laws—despite a specific anti-preemption clause in the federal telecom laws—but that request was later withdrawn. My proposal calls for a new federal law to regulate the worst robocalls and preempt the confusing patchwork of state laws. Unless Congress acts, we can expect that the 2010 election will bring even more stories that feature shady calls going unpunished and mainstream campaigns being threatened for unwittingly violating the law.
Can you fix the missing graphic on this page?