Alton village residents getting pummelled with robo-calls. Were you one of the hundreds that had the phone ring?

By Staff

October 6, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

Life in the Alton Village seems to be about on-line voting and robo-calls. The natives up there are not happy.

The phones are ringing in these homes.

One ward six resident said: “The newest addition to the Burlington community is front and centre in the election. Alton Village, part of ward 6, residents have their phone ringing off the hook with robo calls right up until the 9:00p.m. hour .

Mayoral candidate and Councillor questions are the mainstream. If you are not home, they will keep phoning back, hang-up because you are putting your baby to bed, they will phone back. Has the incumbent finally realized there is a fresh voter pool? Alton Village, like most of Ward 6, has been vastly ignored in the past four years by the City.

“People are getting pummeled with nonstop robo calls. I felt bad – I have only had one” said our source. “The people in the Village are the new voting group… so they have a huge role to play in the election.
One resident said she got four calls one evening “when I am putting my newborn down, unreal. Sick and tired of the calls. Do they not understand we are commuters and don’t get home at 5?”

City hall became concerned that people would think the robo-calls were being paid for by the city and they put out a statement saying it wasn’t them.

New community and new voters – candidates are trying to figure out what they want and are using robocalls as a research tool. Residents are not too happy.

 A little bit of thinking and one can narrow down the source of the calls to three possible candidates. One has used this type of service before and has a lot of experience; another is looking at a campaign that is in trouble and needs to find a way to get out of the hole the campaign is in and a third is part of the race for the office of mayor – however this is not much more than informed speculation.

We are getting reports as well that when registering to vote on line some get their email advising them of their PIN right away, while others after a successful register are made to wait, wait and wait. It appears however that people are eventually getting their pin numbers and are able to vote.