UPDATE on Oct. 21, 2012: Clear Channel Outdoor has agreed to remove the offending billboards. Read more.
Clear Channel was asked by voting rights advocates and local politicians to remove billboard advertisements that unfairly target minority communities with the threat that “voter fraud is a felony” with “up to 3 1/2 yrs & $10,000 Fine.” Despite public outrage and the potential threat of voter intimidation, the anonymously funded billboards will stay, according to the Washington Post.
Earlier this week voting rights advocates–including the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law and AFL-CIO–have called for the removal of the billboards.
“These billboards are placed in predominately African American or Latino neighborhoods only,” said Eric Marshall of the Lawyers’ Committee. “They send a pretty strong message, and a very dissuasive message that is not good for our democracy.”
On October 10, Clear Channel spokesperson Jim Cullinan said the company “understands the sensitivity of the signage and would start a dialogue with political leaders and community activists who have expressed their feelings about the billboards,” according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Today, however, the company said it has no plans to remove the ads, despite acknowledging that it was a mistake to sell the advertising space to an anonymous foundation, according to Washington Post‘s Election 2012 Blog.
“Honestly it was a mistake of the specific sales person who agreed to that,” said Clear Channel spokesperson Jim Cullinan. “But once we put them up and signed a contract, we had to live with the anonymity. We understand there’s people upset. We’re working with the community.”
“Voter intimidation is always wrong and it is outrageous in 2012 that an anonymous group is trying to scare Black voters away from the polls in a competitive election,” Color of Change blogged last week.
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