2003 Tierradorian voter suppression scandal

The 2003 Tierradorian general election voter suppression scandal is a political scandal stemming from events that took place during the 2003 Tierradorian general election, which saw PP candidate Victoría Hombêri defeat incumbent PST candidate Aphía Mōnderíq in one of the most controversial elections in Tierradorian history. It involved numerous robocalls and real-person calls that originated from the Partéq Pepal’s campaign office, vote buying from the PP and the TCU, and the rejection of absentee ballots in 6 regions. These were all mostly designed to result in voter suppression, except for the absentee ballots scandal, which was mainly done to comply with the laws implemented in said 6 regions. Investigations from the Civil Guard and Elections Terranóq were made to respond to claims that the PP was using robocalls and real-person calls to falsely inform voters that the location of their area’s polling stations have been changed.

Calls began in Tabía, La Plazal on April 5, 2003, 1 week before Election Day. The La Plazal State Patrol (LPSP) discovered an automated calling machine in the Santa Cruz PP headquarters which they believed to be the source of said robocalls. By April 8, 2003, Elections Terranóq had received complaints detailing irregular calls from the PP in 316 of the 380 ridings in Tierrador, recorded in all 20 regions. The scandal received widespread attention throughout Crona, and resulted in various arrests, lawsuits, and condemnations from other South and Central Cronan nations, along with widespread rioting in La Plazal stemming from Hombêri’s victory. Former President Pedro Gomez called the handling by Elections Terranóq and the Civil Guard “fucking disgraceful” and “a slap in the face to Tierradorian dignity.”

Fraudulent calls in Tabía

Fraudulent calls were first reported on April 5, 2003, however most of these calls dated back to as far as November 2002. Residents of Tabía, La Plazal, began receiving calls from an automated telephone number which called itself “Pierre,” wrongfully informing voters that their local polling station had been changed to different locations across La Plazal. This was regarded as unusual to voters as most Tierradorian government agencies never call citizens to notify them of information such as this, solely contacting by postal mail. Some of these station changes ranged from different places in Tabía (i.e. Arcer Terrace Mall to Tabía North High School), to having voters drive to Santa Cruz, which is a 1 hour and 20 minute drive from Tabía along with being in a separate province to Tabía (Polling stations are based off of provinces rather than counties or regions). One voter reported their location being changed to Anders, Anbarsky.

On April 6, 2003, Elections Terranóq, along with the La Plazal State Patrol, began an investigation in Tabía, questioning close to 450 people who received calls from the mysterious number. What they were not aware of is that while the calls came from 8 different numbers, they all originated in Santa Cruz, given that all of the numbers began with area code 414, meanwhile Tabía was assigned the area code 856. One LP State Trooper recognized one of the numbers as the Partéq Pepal La Plazal headquarters, introducing the PP as a possible suspect for these calls. On the April 6 president debate, Victoría Hombêri was questioned about the robocalls, to which she explained that the calls did not come from her or the PP, and then accused the PST and Aphía Mōnderíq of attempting a smear campaign against the PP.

The morning of April 7, 2003, LP State Troopers investigating in the PP’s Santa Cruz headquarters entered a large hidden janitor’s closet, where they discovered three computers automating spam calls, along with Tierradorian census records detailing the voting patterns of 430,000 La Plazal residents. Later that same day, an advisory message had been issued to La Plazali radio and television stations. It was then determined that the calls were directed towards three groups: Early voters, voters registered under PST, PCq, and AVA, and ethnic Coscivian voters. These were meant to dissuade residents of said groups from going to vote by falsely changing their polling station to an outrageous alternative. In response to this, the PP disabled the computers and closed their Santa Cruz office until April 15, three days after Election Day. Despite this, on April 7–9, 2003, Elections Terranóq received calls from various electoral districts in Mainland Tierrador detailing similar fraudulent robocalls.

Fraudulent calls across Tierrador

In the early days of the Scandal, most of the calls were only reported in the region of La Plazal, with a few also coming in from fellow island region Sonaxa. However, on April 7, 2003, Elections Terranóq reported complaints from 79 ridings, across 6 regions. This was the first wave of misleading calls from outside of La Plazal, and they all consisted of the same messages from the La Plazal calls. When meeting with Hombêri about the robocalls, PCq presidential candidate Marvín Tobekee described her behavior as "strange" and "seemed like she knew what was going on". By April 8, 2003, close to 1.3 million voters from 291 electoral districts filed complaints with Elections Terranóq, detailing fraudulent calls with outrageous contexts.

Once Election Day came around, 326 of 380 ridings had reported misleading calls. For the first time in Tierradorian history, early voting, which was supposed to occur on April 9, was suspended, creating outrage throughout the entire nation, as most voters were unable to vote on April 12, and early voting was the only way that close to 2.4 million citizens could vote. The ATC called this a "slap in the face to democracy", as ethic Coscivian voters made up 91% of that 2.4 million number. It sparked protests in cities with a large Coscivian population, such as Taisgol, Qabór, and Santiago.

Throughout Tierrador, these fraudulent robocalls had a significant impact on voters' perceptions of the electoral system. Many voters became apprehensive about trusting any information they received through phone calls, making it challenging for legitimate political campaigns and election officials to communicate effectively with the public. The lack of trust in information sources led to widespread confusion and, in some cases, apathy towards the electoral process. The alarming scale of these calls raised questions about the vulnerability of Tierrador's communication infrastructure and the need for stronger safeguards to protect citizens from such malicious activities. It also highlighted the importance of robust legislation to penalize those engaged in electoral fraud and disinformation campaigns. Companies such as Orixtal Communications and H2O Group were subsequently sued by Elections Terranóq in December 2003, for allowing the robocalls to continue despite them knowing of said calls.

Arcergate

An investigation in November 2004 uncovered the use of vote-buying by Partéq Pepal and the Tierradorian Conservatives Union. As evidence of an alleged fraud surfaced and pointed towards the PRI buying votes by providing voting citizens with store credit cards of Mexican department store chain Arcer Court. Elections Terranóq confirmed in January 2005 that the TCU and PP spent $7.5 million in electronic cards throughout their entire campaign. Opposition parties (and both the TCU and PP amongst themselves) complained that this represented a form of illicit funding, but both parties claimed the contrary. They claimed that the electronic cards were actually intended for party personnel, but this method rose suspicions because some of the money was transacted through "several shadowy companies instead of being disbursed directly from party coffers." This also increased the suspicions that the TCU had received illegal donations from various domestic and international corporations (given that this move is prohibited under law).

The store credit cards typically had a balance of $250, and these forms of vote-buying were targeted towards lower-class citizens. This won close to 600,000 votes for the PP and 432,000 for the TCU. In ridings where the final results were determined by 1,000 votes or less for the PP/TCU, said scandal, on top of the robocalls, sparked massive outrage and voters, along with opposition politicians, called for the removal of Victoría Hombêri. This vote-buying scandal was dubbed Arcergate, due to the supposed involvement of Arcer Court in the scandal. Arcer Court denied any involvement and subsequently canceled their pre-paid cards program until 2009. Regardless, Arcer Court was involved in numerous lawsuits, by opposition parties and groups of voters affected by the scandals.

See also

2011 Canadian election scandal
2012 Mexican general election
Conniegate