Dems fume over Flake robocalls

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Flake came under fire Monday from Arizona Democrats for a round of automated phone calls that provided some Democratic voters with incorrect information about their polling sites.

News that a handful of Democrats received the robocalls, which Flake subsequently said were intended only for Republicans and inadvertentantly went to only a small number of Democrats because of discrepancies in Maricopa County voter data, was broken Sunday night by 12 News.

Flake, a six-term congressman, is in a tough battle with Democrat Richard Carmona, a former U.S. surgeon general. Election Day is today.

The original 12 News report included an interview with Democrat Mary Crecco of Scottsdale who said she "just freaked out" when she got the Flake robocall. The recording encouraged her to vote for Flake but identified the wrong polling location. "It was totally wrong, totally wrong, and I feel like it was done purposely," she told the TV station.

Democratic Party officials told The Arizona Republic on Monday that they have confirmed that at least six Democrats got the Flake call and were given incorrect information. One other Democrat contacted The Republic with the same complaint.

The Arizona Democratic Party on Monday demanded that the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, the state Attorney General's Office, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice look into the Flake calls.

William Solomon, an assistant U.S. attorney in Phoenix, told The Republic that a request for an investigation had been received and referred to the proper investigative agency.

"No decision has yet been made as to whether or not an investigation will result from this referral," Solomon said. "The Department of Justice ordinarily does not confirm or deny the existence or status of an investigation once a request for investigation has been received."

FBI Special Agent Manuel Johnson, spokesman for the FBI's Phoenix office, told The Republic that the FBI was aware of the situation but could not confirm or deny that the matter would be investigated.

Luis Heredia, the state Democratic Party's executive director, said in a written statement that "it is clear the Flake campaign was targeting Democrats in a clumsy attempt to influence tomorrow's election."

In a written statement, Flake said the 120,000 robocalls were part of a get-out-the-vote effort targeting registered Republicans. Andrew Wilder, his campaign spokesman, said a small number of the calls went to Democrats who for whatever reason shared the same telephone number with Republicans listed on the voter rolls.

The Flake campaign identified a registered Republican whose voter information included the same number as Crecco.

Wilder also pointed to the fact that the calls were clearly identified as paid for by Flake's campaign as proof that there was no sinister motive.

"The call clearly stated that it was from my campaign because it was intended for Republicans," Flake said in his statement. "We received fewer than a dozen calls from voters with questions about the information provided, nearly all of which we were able to reconcile. Some adult children were registered under their parents' address. In other cases, voters had moved but not updated their registration."

Carmona said it was "troubling" that Flake campaign was trying to complicate the voting process.

"But, ultimately, Congressman Flake or any other group can't stop anyone from voting who is registered and shows up," Carmona said Monday in a statement.

A poll released Sunday by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling had Flake leading Carmona 51 percent to 46 percent. The automated survey of 1,080 likely Arizona voters, conducted Friday and Saturday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

To find your polling place, visit https://voter.azsos.gov/VoterView/PollingPlaceSearch.do.

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