Robocalls help politicians get out their message

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - With just hours until the primary, candidates are doing plenty of last minute stumping.  But if they can't see you in person, they're still trying to reach you over the phone.

Rick Asnani isn't running for office, but the owner of Cornerstone Solutions in West Palm Beach has been running a number of political campaigns.  He clicks his computer mouse and the voice of a House candidate from Central Florida comes through the speaker.

"My opponents are attacking my record as an optometrist," says the candidate.

It is part of a robocall, a campaign tactic that Asnani is a big believer of.

"Robocalls allow you to target and communicate directly to a likely voter who shows up on election day," said Asnani.

Asnani's firm crunches the numbers, and determines where those likely voters are and what areas will be targeted with robocalls.  In a primary where voter turnout is estimated at around 20-percent, there are precincts where twice that number will vote.  With a lot of gated communities, robocalls often replace door to door campaigning.  Asnani adds they're cheaper, costing only one-fifth the price of a mailer.

You might be wondering if you signed up for that national Do Not Call registry, why would you still be  getting any robocalls. It's because political messaging is exempt.

Not everyone is a fan of the calls.  After working the phones during the 2004 presidential campaign, and taking a lot of heat from the people he called, Shaun Dakin decided to act.  His Washington-based organization is trying to stop what he calls these unwelcome intrusions into people's lives.

"This is yet another law that politicians have written for everyone else and have exempted themselves from the law," said Dakin.

Dakin points to a study done at Yale that claimed robocalls were ineffective.  Asnani disputes that, saying in some cases the last name a person hears may be the candidate that gets the vote.  

So how can you avoid a robocall?  Vote early.

"If you voted and a good consultant or good team is working on a campaign, they're going to take your name off the list, no reason to talk to someone who's voted," said Asnani.

If you want to learn more about Dakin's group trying to get political robocalls stopped, you can click here .