Republican accused of 'deceiving' Black voters with ad showing wrong election date

A Michigan Republican is being accused of misleading Black voters in a print ad that shows the wrong election date.

State Sen. Tom Barrett, who's running against Democrat Curtis Hertel for the seat left vacant by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) as she runs for U.S. Senate, took out a full-page ad in the Oct. 2 issue of the Michigan Bulletin — a Lansing-based, Black-owned alternative weekly publication — that lists Election Day as Nov. 6, a day later than the correct date, reported the Washington Post.

“At best, Tom Barrett and his Campaign have committed a shocking oversight which will undoubtedly lead to confusion by Black voters in Lansing,” said the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus in a complaint filed Sunday with the state attorney general. "At worst, this ad could be part of an intentional strategy to ‘deter’ Black voters by deceiving them into showing up to vote on the day after the 2024 election.”

Barrett's campaign acknowledged the mistake but claims it was a “proofing error” that was not intended to suppress voter turnout.

“Our campaign has been committed to outreach to the Black community and Black leaders because it is important to Senator Barrett that every community be heard in this election,” said campaign spokesman Jason Roe. “The goal is to earn more support from Black voters.”

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However, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus is dubious and accused the GOP legislator of engaging in an “insidious campaign tactic [that] unfortunately appears to be part of a national trend” of election disinformation targeting Black voters.

“It strains credulity that this was a simple mistake,” the complaint states. “Tom Barrett and his Campaign placed two nearly identical ads in two different newspapers within a week of each other. The ad placed in the newspaper read predominantly by Black voters has the wrong election date; while the ad placed in the newspaper not read predominantly by Black voters has the correct election date.”

Roe said next week's issue of the Michigan Bulletin will carry a revised ad showing the correct election date.