Michigan Lawmakers Debate Robo-Call Rules ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - Michigan lawmakers are again discussing accountability rules for recorded phone calls during election campaigns.

Robo-calls come mostly at election time and encourage -- or discourage -- people to vote a certain way for a candidate or issue.

Rich Robinson is executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
He says those recorded messages aren't always what they seem.

"These robo-calls are in particular frequently constructed in a deceptive kind of way," Robinson says. "They'll represent themselves as being on behalf of a candidate, but they'll be sent in the middle of the night to annoy someone."

Last year, both chambers of the Legislature passed measures that would require the same accountability for robo-calls, e-mails and Web advertising as for other media. But they never discussed the other's bill.
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