The state’s legislative Black caucus has asked the attorney general and a county prosecutor to investigate Tom Barrett’s congressional campaign for potential voter disenfranchisement.
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Tom Barrett, a Republican, is running for the seat being vacated by Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat.
Black state lawmakers in Michigan are calling on the state’s attorney general and a local county prosecutor to investigate the congressional campaign of Tom Barrett, a Republican, for an ad in a Black-owned newspaper that incorrectly listed Election Day as Nov. 6.
The complaint from the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, filed on Sunday, accuses the campaign of Mr. Barrett, who is running for the seat being vacated by Representative Elissa Slotkin, of intentionally providing false information to disenfranchise Black voters. Election Day is Nov. 5.
Mr. Barrett’s campaign has strongly denied the allegation and characterized it as a one-time “proofing error” that is inconsistent with the campaign’s other advertisements aimed at Black voters.
“On Nov. 6 vote for Tom Barrett” reads the information box at the center of the full-page advertisement, which appeared in the Oct. 2 issue of The Michigan Bulletin, a Black-owned alternative weekly that has published in the Lansing area for 30 years. At the bottom of the page, the disclaimer “Paid for by Tom Barrett for Congress” appears.
As of Sunday, more than a week after publication, the campaign had yet to publish a correction. A representative said that The Bulletin’s publisher notified the campaign about the error over the weekend and that a corrected version of the ad would run in the next issue.
“Our campaign has been committed to outreach to the Black community and Black leaders,” Jason C. Roe, a spokesman for Mr. Barrett’s campaign, said. “The goal is to earn more support from Black voters, and this was nothing but a proofing error.”
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Source: nytimes.com
