A couple of people have told me that the city, or an organization employed by the city, has begun to call people about the 3/4% tax renewal. Since I haven't personally received a call what is said in the call? Are they asking your views on the renewal and if you'll vote for it? Or, are they push polling by saying the police and fire staff will be laid if you don't vote for the renewal? Did they say who they are and who they work for?
This could violate for polling laws if indeed they're indeed push polling from a governmental organization. If you don't know what push polling is, its
a public-opinion polling technique that is used to test possible campaign themes by asking very specific questions about an issue or candidate. Some unscrupulous campaigns have used the technique to “push” voters away from their opponent or issue by including false or misleading information in their questions.
To the administration:
The main advantage of push polls is that they are an effective way of maligning an opponent ("pushing" voters towards a predetermined point of view) while avoiding direct responsibility for the distorted or false information used in the push poll. They are risky for this same reason: if credible evidence emerges that the polls were directly ordered by a campaign/candidate, it would do serious "backfire" damage to that campaign. Push polls are also relatively expensive, having a far higher cost per voter than radio or television commercials. Thus, push polls are most used in elections with fewer voters, such as party primaries, or in close elections where a relatively small change in votes can mean victory or defeat. - wikipedia.org
