Prosectors: GOP 'robocall' plan to suppress black votes hatched on hectic Election Day

[LeighAnn]

Source: Baltimore Sun

A plan by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s campaign manager to suppress black votes in Baltimore and Prince George's County was hatched shortly before 3 p.m. on a desperate, hectic Election Day last year, prosecutors alleged Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court.

Needing low voter turnout in those jurisdictions, aides to Ehrlich, a Republican, conferred with political consultant Julius Henson on a strategy to keep those votes down, according to emails presented to the jury in the election fraud case against Ehrlich's campaign manager, Paul Schurick, 55, of Crownsville.

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On Election Day, with the race on the line, and a sense of panic setting in amid an ultimately unsuccessful effort against Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, the campaign finally gave in to Henson's plans, prosecutors said.

Schurick called Henson shortly before 5 p.m. to authorize an anonymous, automated "robocall" to 112,000 Democratic households in the two jurisdictions, telling voters to "relax" and that O'Malley and President Barack Obama, who was not on the ballot, had been "successful" in that day's election, according to prosecutors.


Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-shurick-trial-20111129,0,7728782.story

[Angry Dragon]

1. $1 million fines and 20 years in jail

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. So does the candidate deny all knowledge of this?

[No Elephants]

3. I look forward to learning what jail time, if any, anyone actually does over this.

I continue to believe that even attempted election fraud is treason.

[MayHamm]

4. Treason?

Well... Yes, of course. Nothing less.