Clear Channel Outdoor Takes Down Controversial 'Voter Fraud' Billboards

Photo From ColorOfChange.org

Responding to critics that some CLEAR CHANNEL billboards in OHIO and WISCONSIN encouraged voter suppression, CLEAR CHANNEL OUTDOOR is taking down the offending billboards. CNN reports "the billboards in question warned that voter fraud is a felony punishable by jail time. Activists say the messages, funded anonymously, were concentrated in minority neighborhoods and were placed in order to intimidate potential voters into staying home."

"In a lot of communities where they were putting these ads up, there's already so much misinformation about voting," said COLOROFCHANGE.ORG Exec. Dir. RASHAD ROBINSON. "In a lot of these communities, there's not always a good relationship between law enforcement and the community, and particularly for first-time voters, you're raising the specter that there could be some kind of interaction with law enforcement as part of the voting process."

CLEAR CHANNEL OUTDOOR spokesman JIM CULLINAN told CNN the company had, "reviewed the situation, and in light of the fact that these billboards violate our policy of not accepting anonymous political ads, we asked the client how they would prefer to work with us to bring the boards into conformance with our policy."

"The client thought the best solution was to take the boards down, so we are in the process of removing them," he said.

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