Almost 12,000 Detroit residents were subjected to a robocall full of misinformation about mail-in voting. | Pixabay
Almost 12,000 Detroit residents were subjected to a robocall full of misinformation about mail-in voting. | Pixabay
Two Arlington, Virginia, residents will head to trial court in Michigan for a felony case involving alleged voter-suppression robocalls.
Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman are scheduled to appear on Thursday, Nov. 12, in Wayne County Circuit Court on charges they orchestrated “a robocall to suppress the vote in Detroit and other cities with significant minority populations,” according to a press release from the Michigan Attorney General's office on Michigan.gov.
The case was transferred to trial court after a hearing in the 36th District Court in Detroit showed probable cause that a crime was committed, according to Michigan.gov.
Wohl and Burkman each were charged with multiple felony election law charges: “Election law -- intimidating voters, a felony punishable by up to five years; conspiracy to commit an election law violation, a felony punishable by up to five years; using a computer to commit the crime of election law -- intimidating voters, a felony punishable by up to seven years; and using a computer to commit the crime of conspiracy, a felony punishable by up to seven years,” Michigan.gov said.
The two allegedly created and funded a misleading robocall meant to suppress the vote in the 2020 general election that was targeted at urban areas, such as Detroit, and went out in late August to almost 12,000 residents with 313 area codes, said an earlier press release on Michigan.gov.
In an audio of the robocall, a woman introduces herself as being from Project 1599, “the civil rights organization founded by Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl.”
“Mail-in voting sounds great, but did you know that if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts?” the audio recording of the robocall said. “The CDC is even pushing to use records from mail-in voting to track people for mandatory vaccines. Don’t be finessed into giving your private information to The Man. Stay safe and beware of vote by mail."
The robocall claims aren’t true, according to the attorney general's office.
Burkman and Wohl’s Thursday, Nov. 12, court appearance will probably take place through videoconferencing, said Michigan.gov.
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