“Vaguely Threatening” RoboCalls Continue in NY Area, Similar to Ones Spread By Right Wing Political Operatives Warning People to “Stay Home”

Mariah Montgomery, a 38-year-old from Kensington, Brooklyn, got two strange robo calls recently warning her to “stay home.” 

“This a test,” the recording of a robotic female voice says, “Time to stay home. Stay home and stay safe.” For a second, she thought it could be about COVID-19, then a second thought popped into her mind.

“I interpreted it as a warning that it was not safe to go out of my house during the last week of this election,” she said. “It definitely struck me as possible voter misinformation.”

The brief 10-second call, which Gothamist learned about through ProPublica’s Electionland tip line, appears similar to the last line of a longer robocall that went out to some 85,000 voters. That call, which circulated in  largely Black neighborhoods, was, paid for by right wing operatives and conspiracy theorists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who are now facing criminal charges in Michigan and Ohio, as well as a federal civil rights lawsuit. The language of that robocall more explicitly discouraged people from casting ballots by mail in this year’s general election. Read the full story at Gothamist.com