Stopping political calls to my cell phone?

November 2, 2006 12:39 PM

Is there any way to stop political calls to my cell phone?

This week, I've already received several political calls from different candidates to my cell phone urging me to vote for them. I understand that calls from political organizations are exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry, but it's annoying that my cell phone minutes are wasted by these prerecorded political messages. Are political calls to cell phones also exempted by the Do Not Call Registry? If so, are there any other ways to get them to stop? Since the calls are just pre-recorded messages, I can't even give them a piece of my mind.

posted by gyc to Law & Government (6 answers total)

Best answer: Did you put your cell phone number on your voter registration? I was hounded by recorded political calls until I re-registered to vote and left the phone number blank (even though the people taking my registration insisted that giving a phone number was mandatory). I haven't had a political call since.
posted by stefanie at 12:44 PM on November 2, 2006 [1 favorite]

"Do not call" does not apply to non-profits such as political organizations. Recently on slashdot there was discussion on whether a recorded call without contact information is legal or not. Some say even though non-profits can send recorded calls, they still have to give you a phone number or address. Others disagree. I'm not a lawyer so I say which, but if it annoyed you enough you could find a lawyer who could tell you :).
posted by crypticgeek at 1:06 PM on November 2, 2006

Before I left NM last week I was getting several calls a day and I NEVER listed that phone number (it was my home office line) on any voter registration or anything else, for that matter. I went away for a week and came back to 37 messages. I was, to say the least, livid.

If it had been on my cell phone I would have been triply peeved.
posted by FlamingBore at 1:23 PM on November 2, 2006

I used to work for a voice marketing company and compliance rules stipulate that companies cannot call ANYONE that is on the National DNC list. The company and client would be fined. However, this does not apply to political campaigns and non-profit.

We required political candidates to have a number (usually their campaign office) in their message including an option to "opt-out" of any future messages.

In general, my old company was very conservative, and would require anyone, including non-profits and political campaigns, to "scrub out" cell phones, as it does annoy people and is on the receiver's dime.

You might want to call/email the campaign manager's office, as they are usually the ones who setup these voice marketing campaigns.

And FYI to others who may receive Voice Marketing calls from big companies (other than non-profits & politicals) if you get a call or message from them and you are on the National DNC list...listen to the whole message, get the number and contact the company with a nicely worded letter stating that they have violated telemarketing compliance and if they compensate you $X (anywhere from $500-1000) you will avoid filing a lawsuit. Although you're bluffing, you will probably get a check from them. This happened many times at my old company and they'd rather pay then deal with lawsuits. Note: This doesn't work if you JUST put your number on the DNC list, as the updated DNC list gets sent at the beginning of every month.
posted by wilde at 3:35 PM on November 2, 2006 [1 favorite]

I was one of those jerks, actually. Last Sunday I volunteered with MoveOn.org to call voters in...New Hampshire? I think.

In any case, if the person we called hung up, said they weren't interested, etc, we marked a box labeled "Don't call again/Disconnected". I assume this would remove them from the system.

So, I'm not sure whether all political parties are the same, but simply telling them not to call you again might work (at least for that organization).
posted by Deathalicious at 9:13 PM on November 2, 2006

Deathalicious, you're a pre-recorded message?
posted by misterbrandt at 9:42 PM on November 2, 2006