A few weeks back my family and I made our way back from a much needed vacation. After sorting through the mail and newspapers, I finally turned to the answering machine.
Like many of you, everyone I really want to talk to calls my cell phone and I'd eliminate the land line altogether if our cell service wasn't a little sketchy at home. This to explain why we'd been home a good 24 hours before I even looked at the answering machine.
To my utter delight (please note sarcasm here) I discovered 27 political messages on our machine. Granted we had returned home just before the July 31st TSPLOST vote, but seriously? The ratio of calls to actual decisions I needed to make at the polls was grossly disproportionate. On my Gwinnett ballot I only had three decisions to make. Most names on the ballot were incumbent candidates running unopposed.
So I conducted my own tiny survey. Do voters listen to these messages? Or like me, do they either hang up immediately if they happen to answer the phone, or do they delete them within 3.2 seconds as soon as the message is clearly a robocall? Do these calls sway anyone's vote?
Every single person I asked hates them as much or more than I do.
Politicians, please read our lips. We delete them. We don't listen to them. We are annoyed by them. And frankly, some of us are keeping track and voting against you just because you are invading our tiny havens of privacy.
According to the Governors Office of Consumer Protection, businesses may not call you with prerecorded marketing messages without your written consent thanks to the FTC's Do Not Call Registry legislation enacted in 2004. Funny thing is though, our lawmakers left in a few exemptions. Some of them are a great idea, like emergency warning systems or pharmacies alerting a prescription is ready. Banks and charity organizations are also allowed. And then, like so many things we're all fed up with about politics, our legislators also left calls from them as an exception.
Candidates use robocalling because it is cheap and easy. My vote however is not. I'm dreading the lead up to this November's election. I may consider disconnecting the home phone.
Politicians, if you happen to be reading, please stop wasting your money on robocalls. I promise I will not hear more than four words of any call.
While we're at it, let's all try to be respectful of each other's opinions this election season. I won't be forwarding emails or posting Facebook messages with my political views. I've concluded I'm either preaching to the choir or hurting someone's feelings. I'd prefer to avoid the later, so I'll do my research and keep my vote private. And yes, that means don't robocall me with a survey either.
Candidates, please hold your calls
