Maryland Robocall Trial Reaches Verdict

By Erin Ferns Lee December 6, 2011
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A political aide to former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich was found guilty today of of conspiring to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election.

Paul Schurick “admitted that on Election Day, he approved the text for a ‘robocall,’ or automated telephone call, to go to voters in the heavily African-American and Democratic jurisdictions of Baltimore and Prince George’s County,” the Baltimore Sun reported last week.

The call–which went to 110,000 voters–implied that Ehrlich’s opponent, Martin O’Malley “had won and those receiving the call could stay home.”

Schurick, who continues to deny that the call was to suppress the black vote,  was found guilty “of four counts, including conspiracy to violate state election laws and attempting to influence a voter’s decision whether to go to the polls through the use of fraud,” the Associated Press reported today.