Best way to stop political calls? Vote early

It's not easy to escape all the political ads in Iowa right now. And political telephone calls throughout the evening are a particular annoyance for many in Eastern Iowa.

But one way to eliminate a lot of the telephone calling may be to simply cast an absentee ballot early.

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller said the number of absentee requests on Wednesday exceeded 14,000 in Linn County. That's running almost double the total on the same date during the last presidential election year of 2008.

Absentee voting can actually begin Sept. 27. And Miller said one advantage to getting an absentee ballot in early is most of the campaigns will get the word and stop the calling because there's no point.

“There's nothing for them to gain after you've sent your absentee ballot back to us," Miller said. "That vote's in the bank, it's cast and it can't be changed."

Miller said most campaigns get a daily statistical report from the Secretary of State's office. Included in the information is who has requested an absentee ballot and who has returned it as cast. Miller said most local campaign offices can probably update their list of voter activity within a day or two, and would remove anyone who has already cast a ballot because further contact would be useless.

In addition, both Democrats and Republicans involved in local phone bank operations say they try to honor requests from people who don't want any further phone calls from a campaign office. After all, annoying voters isn't in their best interest.

Tyler Olson, a state representative and volunteer with the Obama campaign, said “when that happens, notes are taken and we really respect those requests.”

Joni Scotter, a Linn County Republican working with the Romney campaign, echoed that statement.

“There's no sense in calling somebody whether we have their vote or we don't have their vote. We don't want to bother and bug people,” Scotter said.

Scotter, a longtime volunteer and campaign caller, said she doesn't take it personally when the people she calls tell her to stop it. It's even happened with people who support her candidate.

Miller said another way to get yourself off the data lists that campaigns use is to remove phone numbers or e-mail addresses from voter registration cards. But Miller added that even after that, a lot of that information will still be on lists and may remain in use for years.

Several campaigns said while voting absentee early will get you removed from the calling list of local campaign offices, a lot of political calls are coming from out-of-state groups. And even if you vote early, those calls may continue.

And Miller also noted it doesn't do any good to complain if you get a campaign call to a number on the national “Do Not Call” list. Political groups are one of the exceptions to the Do Not Call program for telemarketers.