Tom Barrett, a Republican vying for a Michigan congressional seat, is facing calls for an investigation after an ad from his campaign incorrectly listed Election Day as Nov. 6 in a Black-owned Michigan newspaper.<\/p>\n
In a complaint filed Sunday with the state attorney general, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus accused Barrett\u2019s campaign of misleading Black voters to suppress turnout \u2014 something the group of Black state lawmakers said could violate a Michigan law that prohibits intentionally spreading misinformation about the election process to deter an individual from voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt best, Tom Barrett and his Campaign have committed a shocking oversight which will undoubtedly lead to confusion by Black voters in Lansing,\u201d states the complaint, which calls on the attorney general as well as a local county prosecutor to launch a probe. \u201cAnd, at worst, this ad could be part of an intentional strategy to \u2018deter\u2019 Black voters by deceiving them into showing up to vote on the day after the 2024 election.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barrett\u2019s campaign has acknowledged the mistake, blaming it on a \u201cproofing error\u201d that was not intended to suppress turnout.<\/p>\n
The complaint is the latest twist in what is shaping up to be one of the closest and most expensive House campaigns in the nation \u2014 and one that could help decide which party controls the House next year.<\/p>\n
The race pits two former state senators \u2014 Democrat Curtis Hertel and Barrett \u2014 in a bid to fill the seat left vacant by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who is running for Senate. It marks Barrett\u2019s second attempt at winning the seat after losing by five percentage points to Slotkin in 2022.<\/p>\n
In an effort \u201cto reach every community,\u201d Barrett\u2019s campaign blitz this year has included a slew of meetings with local leaders, resources dedicated to urban radio and direct mail, as well as print ads, said Jason Roe, a campaign spokesman. The materials emphasize Barrett\u2019s 22-year service as an Army helicopter pilot \u2014 and most have a banner calling on voters to head to the polls on Nov. 5, the correct date for Election Day.<\/p>\n
But the full-page ad that appeared in the Oct. 2 issue of the Michigan Bulletin \u2014 a Lansing-based, Black-owned alternative weekly publication \u2014 is instead splashed with the phrase \u201cOn November 6 VOTE FOR TOM BARRETT.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to The Washington Post, Roe said \u201cthis was nothing but a proofing error\u201d that is inconsistent with the campaign\u2019s other advertisements aimed at Black voters \u2014 including mailers that were sent on Oct. 2 and Oct. 9 that include the correct date for the election.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur campaign has been committed to outreach to the Black community and Black leaders because it is important to Senator Barrett that every community be heard in this election,\u201d Roe said. \u201c\u2026 The goal is to earn more support from Black voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus is not convinced the incorrect election date in Barrett\u2019s ad was a mere oversight \u2014 and instead called it an \u201cinsidious campaign tactic [that] unfortunately appears to be part of a national trend\u201d of election disinformation targeting Black voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt strains credulity that this was a simple mistake,\u201d the group wrote. \u201cTom Barrett and his Campaign placed two nearly identical ads in two different newspapers within a week of each other. The ad placed in the newspaper read predominantly by Black voters has the wrong election date; while the ad placed in the newspaper not read predominantly by Black voters has the correct election date.\u201d<\/p>\n
The state lawmakers also took issue with the campaign\u2019s failure to promptly amend its ad. As of Monday \u2014 12 days after it was first printed \u2014 the campaign has yet to publish a correction.<\/p>\n
However, Roe said next week\u2019s Bulletin edition will carry a revised ad \u2014 this time with the correct date.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tom Barrett, a Republican vying for a Michigan congressional seat, is facing calls for an investigation after an ad from his campaign incorrectly listed Election Day as Nov. 6 in a Black-owned Michigan newspaper. In a complaint filed Sunday with the state attorney general, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus accused Barrett\u2019s campaign of misleading Black […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}