Women's Voices Women Vote has settled the charges against it in North Carolina (PDF) from the anonymous "Lamont Williams" calls during the primaries. Because placing automated calls without disclosing who's paying for them violates North Carolina law, WVWV has agreed to pay a $100,000 civil penalty (to go to NC schools), to refrain from political activity in the state between now and the election (a moratorium it began voluntarily in May) and to provide written explanations to the NC Atty Gen'l's office in the future to explain how its plans will comply with state law.
In their written statement, WVWV referred to the failure to disclose their sponsorship of the calls as an "inadvertent error," asserting that "It was not our intention that the robocalls or our mailings cause any confusion as to whether any individual was already registered to vote.":
As part of its voter registration efforts, Women’s Voices. Women Vote ("WVWV"), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, mails registration applications to persons it believes are unregistered to vote, and to persons that it believes were registered to vote at their old address but have moved. These mailings are frequently preceded by automated telephone calls ("robocalls") advising the household that they will soon receive voter registration materials. Households in North Carolina received these calls in late April 2008 in advance of a WVWV registration mailing. Unfortunately, due to an inadvertent error, these calls failed to identify WVWV as the organization sponsoring the calls. WVWV understands that this failure was inconsistent with North Carolina law and, consequently, has entered into a settlement agreement to resolve the North Carolina Attorney General’s investigation of this matter.
It was not our intention that the robocalls or our mailings cause any confusion as to whether any individual was already registered to vote. To the contrary, our effort was squarely aimed at encouraging registration of underrepresented voters in North Carolina for the upcoming general election. We took every step available to us to make our intent clear in this regard. WVWV sent mailings that provided information to allow recipients to determine whether they were in fact registered. We also publicized this information, and the fact that registration for the general election remained open, through press releases and other means.
In May, WVWV voluntarily suspended its activities in North Carolina. Through the settlement agreement, WVWV voluntarily extended this moratorium through the election on November 4th.
WVWV seeks to register unmarried women, who constitute 26% of the election, and to encourage them to vote. During the course of its history, WVWV’s efforts have been hugely successful and have resulted in the submission of over 1,000,000 voter registration applications across the country, with nearly 900,000 in this election cycle alone. In North Carolina, WVWV’s efforts have generated more than 42,000 registration applications, including over 32,000 in 2008.
As WVWV continues its outreach in North Carolina and around the country, we look forward to working with state officials and other organizations in the state who share our mission to bring new voices to the democratic process. The concerns of this critical constituency must be heard and addressed by all candidates and public officials.