Illegal polling in Norfolk

From the Code of Virginia:

§ 24.2-959. Requirements for campaign telephone calls sponsored by a candidate or candidate campaign committee.

It shall be unlawful for any candidate or candidate campaign committee to make campaign telephone calls without disclosing, before the conclusion of each telephone call, information to identify the candidate or candidate campaign committee who has authorized and is paying for the calls unless such call is terminated prematurely by means beyond the maker’s control.

The person making the telephone call shall disclose the name of the candidate.

It shall also be unlawful (i) for any candidate or candidate campaign committee who contracts for campaign telephone calls to fail to provide to the persons making the telephone calls the identifying information required by this section or (ii) for any person to provide a false or fictitious name or address when providing the identifying information required.

I have been provided a recording of a poll being conducted in Norfolk in which the polling firm fails to identify who paid for the call, despite being asked. (Because the call has voter identifying information on it (including the phone number of the person receiving the call and the first name of the person receiving the call), I have decided not to post the audio.) The questions asked were typical, and included asking the respondent’s opinion of various people, including Senator Mark Warner and Governor Bob McDonnell.

There was one question asked that makes me think that I know who paid for the poll. The firm conducting the poll was identified once the respondent asked. Financial reports for local races are due April 15, so if the Florida-based polling firm is identified in the expenditures, my suspicions will be confirmed. Regardless, a complaint will be filed as such behavior should not be tolerated.

The penalty for violating telephone call disclaimers is $2,500 per occurrence. There is no doubt that this call violates the disclaimers and whoever paid for it should be punished.

By the way – I wouldn’t rely on the results of this poll. It was really, really sloppy. The respondent’s answers were not the same as the choices provided, which meant that the surveyor plugged in whatever he thought the responses meant.