<p>I hate being a swing state! I’m averaging around 5 calls per day, but the fact that we have 4 registered voters in our household, from both parties, doesn’t help matters.</p>
<p>You can ask to be removed from the calling lists each time you receive a call. However, not all of the campaigns coordinate their lists, so you may have to ask multiple times, and it may take several days for your request to be entered into the system. Or just let your answering machine pick up if you don’t recognize the calling number until November… most campaigns will not leave a message. Remember that most of the callers are volunteers, and are just handed a list to work from, so best not to take it out on them… just ask to please be removed from the list.</p>
<p>We were also bombarded with political phone calls. Nothing would make them stop. Two weeks ago I finally had enough and told them this “you guys promised that if we donated some $$ that you would stop the phone calls. You did not keep your promise and I am about to spread the word” Not one single phone call since that day…
(I like to think it was me, but more than likely I talked to the one person in the campaign that knew how to remove me from the calling lists)</p>
<p>Don’t you feel privileged to be in the 1%?</p>
<p>(1% = the 10% undecided voters among the 10% of the voting population that lives in the swing states)</p>
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<p>The correct wording is “please put me on the do-not-call list”.</p>
<p>Can we add tv commercials to?</p>
<p>It fries my cookies that politicians are exempt from the National and State Do Not Call Lists. Exactly why are they special? They’d be reason enough for the list :)</p>
<p>It doesn’t take a swing state. I live where we are always, except the last election, the first state to report we have gone Republican. Doesn’t stop the calls…</p>
<p>I don’t know how you can remove yourself. All of ours are robocalls. No one to actually talk to. </p>
<p>My bf and I are registered with two different political parties. I’ve received maybe one call every few weeks. He gets one almost every day. Drives me nuts. He doesn’t care, he thinks it’s funny how annoyed I get.</p>
<p>And as someone who had to make those obnoxious calls in the last election, please don’t take it out on us. Mostly they’re unpaid interns who are using an internship to help after college. We really have little control over the lists we’re given.</p>
<p>LOL Roman! My son had to make some of those calls and I’ve been much nicer to all those callers ever since after hearing his stories (he had some nice stories too).</p>
<p>You all ought to try living in Iowa. We are going on two years of constant phone calls from everybody and his brother – literally. Yes, I have gotten personal calls from the relatives of candidates in both parties. The best way to cut down on the number of phone calls is to pick a candidate, doesn’t matter which one, and everytime you get a call state firmly that you intend to vote for him, that you have made up your mind and nothing they say will sway you. If they think you are off the table they stop calling. It may take a week or so, but eventually you cut down the number of calls.</p>
<p>Gouf, let’s just say I never realized the level of crazy that some voters can reach. I did have some very, very nice people. My Senator was pretty well liked by both political parties. But the crazy far outweighed the nice comments.</p>
<p>If you do talk to them don’t EVER tell them that you are undecided! Come down firmly in one camp, whether you mean it or not. If you are undecided, you go right back on the list for someone else to call you and try to convince you. </p>
<p>Although coming down firmly in one camp probably will not get you off the list (unless it is the opposite camp than is calling you – you could just switch back and forth, and tell them you are firmly for “the other one”, whoever that is 
). One reason they call is to try to identify who their supporters are (as it is very hard to convince people anyway) so they can encourage you to get out and vote on election day if they think you will vote for their candidate. So you may very well hear back close to the election, as it does no good to identify supporters if they don’t go out to vote.</p>
<p>Swing State here too. This past weekend, in addition to the robo calls, which have been non-stop, we had two different canvassers at the front door looking for the two coveted ‘independents’ who are registered at our address. Sadly (but not really,lol) I had to tell them both were away at college. </p>
<p>I do have to say that even though I will not be voting for the candidate they were supporting, I admire anyone who believes so passionately in their candidate to go door-to-door. They are the foot soldiers of our democratic system and I respect that, and I told them so. I’m sure they had some uncivilized responses this weekend, and that is no fun in a face to face situation.</p>
<p>The robo calls are a different story. I loath them- it does not take one ounce of conviction or passion to plug in 1 million+ phone numbers into a data bank and push ‘dial’. I have put our house phones on “do not disturb”- anyone who really needs to reach us knows our cell numbers.</p>
<p>Yes I just screamed this poor kids head off the other day. My cell rang while I was driving. It rang around 5:45 when I’m typically driving home and everyone that knows me (and has the priviledge of knowing my personal cell number) would never call me at 5:45 unless my dad had died or something truly awful occured…so my heart was pounding and I kept my eyes on the road pushed the talk button and said “yes???” IT WAS A POLITICAL CALL. I literally took the guys poor head off and was screaming at him for calling my private cell phone number, asking him where the h-e-double hockey sticks did he get my phone number, and what the h-e-double hockey sticks was he doing calling me while I was driving a car. Needless to say he hit a raw nerve at a bad time but I guarantee you that poor man won’t ever call me back. Our Lan line has the ringer turned off and it’s connected to an answering machine until after the election.</p>
<p>Swing state+ registered Independent= Caller ID.</p>
<p>We are also a family with people registered in two parties. I personally liked getting the calls for people from my husbands party and telling them that we were all going to vote for my parties person! My husband hasn’t made up his mind yet, but appreciates not getting further calls.</p>
<p>I made phone calls last election and decided not to do so this election because tooooo many people said that they were getting multiple calls. It’s annoying all around.</p>
<p>If you come down on one side, then you’ll get calls asking for money.</p>
<p>Momofthreeboys, 99% chance that you blasted a volunteer who was just handed a paper list. He has no idea where the number came from, nor that it was a cell number, nor that you were driving. Honestly, HE would never call you back anyway. He may mark his list as “refused”. You would get further asking politely to be taken off the calling list, IMHO.</p>
<p>Regarding how they get your cell phone number: some people give it out without thinking when they give a donation and are asked for it, or are talking to someone on the phone from the party they sympathize with. Or I believe candidates sometimes purchase lists. I am VERY careful to give only my land line number to anyone except personal friends. I would never enter it on a website, on a form, or give it to a business unless I asked the business specifically about their privacy policy and whether they ever sell the numbers. And I would only give it to a business if I needed them to call my cell, and not my land line for some reason. I have never gotten a political call on my cell, and can count on one hand the number of “solications” of any kind I have gotten on it. But once it is out there, you are probably stuck with some calls. Just saying, don’t blame the volunteers for having it. At some point you gave it to someone who entered it into a system or sold it to someone who did. If you want to be removed, ask them to remove it.</p>
<p>I recently traveled to a swing state and in just one night of TV viewing I saw repeated and very nasty ads from both sides. </p>
<p>But even though I am not in a swing state I get so many phone solicitations, mostly from unemployed contractors. I tell them I’m on the DNC register but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. They are so desperate for work they will phone anyway. The government does not seem to be enforcing this law at all.</p>
<p>Well, I live in a sold Dem. state and yesterday while I was chatting with my D, I got a call waiting alert, asked D to hang on, and picked up the call, only to hear Mitt Romney’s recorded voice! Came back to D laughing my head off. Although I don’t get that many, I think robocalls should be banned. They’re a form of harassment.</p>
<p>The DNC process worked for a few years, but eventually everyone figured out there was no meaningful enforcement, so it’s just ignored. I don’t hear from too many contractors, but ol’ “Rachel from card services” called me just yesterday–gosh, it’s been ages, Rach! With those folks (they’re scammers looking to get your personal info), I just press “1” to indicate I want to speak to a human to get more info, then lay down the phone for a minute or two, so at least I’ve wasted more of their time than they did of mine.</p>