Controversial ‘voter fraud is a felony’ boards come down

The 140 billboards warning residents of inner-city neighborhoods in Wisconsin and Ohio that they could go to jail for committing voter fraud are being taken down Monday. The move comes after the private family foundation funding them declined to make its identity known.

Civil rights groups criticized the ads as an attempt to intimidate voters in primarily low-income, minority neighborhoods by associating voting with jail time. The billboards show a large gavel and the text, “Voter Fraud is a Felony! Up to 3.5 years and a $10,000 fine.”

Clear Channel, the company that put up the advertisements, said the foundation funding the signs was mistakenly allowed to remain anonymous when it bought the billboards, a violation of the company’s policy against accepting anonymous political ads.

“We reviewed the situation and in light of the fact that these billboards violate our policy of not accepting anonymous political ads, we asked the client how they would prefer to work with us to bring the boards into conformance with our policy,” Clear Channel spokesman Jim Cullinan wrote in an email. “The client thought the best solution was to take the boards down, so we’re in the process of removing them.”

 

Yahoo News has the full article

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