‘Voter Fraud’ Billboards: Clear Channel Asked To Remove Ads

By Leigh Owens, Huffington Post Latino Voices

Color of Change, the nation’s largest online civil rights organization, is taking on media heavyweight Clear Channel over billboards that the advocacy group claims are attempts at voter intimidation.

Recently, anti-voter fraud billboards have sprung up in swing states such as Ohio and Wisconsin, depicting a gavel and informing passers-by that voter fraud is a felony, punishable by up to three and a half years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. Although the billboards state that they were funded by a “private family foundation,” Color of Change’s executive director Rashad Robinson believes Clear Channel has a responsibility to remove the ads, and has started an online campaign in an effort to force them to do so.

Robinson told The Huffington Post, “For us, these billboards, they create a culture of fear. They’ve only been put up in black and brown neighborhoods, so these are not widespread billboards. They are targeting certain communities, and they’re creating a fear for people going to the polls.”

Robinson also took issue with the anonymity of the billboard’s buyer. “These billboards were funded by an anonymous donor. So unlike the work of Color of Change, when we send out a petition or do a rally, when we take out an ad, people know exactly who paid for it. They know what we stand for, they know who we are,” Robinson said.

Clear Channel, which owns the billboards, was purchased in 2008 by Bain Capital, the company founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

In an email to HuffPost, Jim Cullinan, vice president of corporate communications for Clear Channel Outdoor, said, “Clear Channel Outdoor does not comment on our advertisers’ ads. We are committed to ensuring that ads, including political ads, posted on our billboards have the appropriate disclaimer so this situation doesn’t happen…

 

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This article was first published in Huffington Post Latino Voices.

[Photo courtesy Huffington Post Latino Voies]

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