To the above, especially during this now-ended election season, we give an overwhelming “Amen.” The invasive and just plain irritating use of recorded telephone solicitations by political candidates has to be stopped, or at least strongly controlled.

Most readers know what we’re talking about. Some know because the message box on the answering machine has been blinking incessantly for two weeks now. Others have gotten up from the dinner table, the weekend football game and even from helping kids with their homework to answer these annoying calls. By the time the phone gets to your ear, the recorded message has already started and you hear the voice of the candidate whom you quickly decide not to vote for.

It’s the latest, greatest marketing ploy for politicians, and once again those trying to win office and those advising them how to do it have discovered an effective way to turn off the electorate. Telemarketing has become, arguably, the most invasive form of advertising and sales yet developed. The excerpt at the beginning of this article is from a bill being kicked around the N.C. General Assembly. Lawmakers want to protect citizens from the disturbing phone calls from companies trying to sell products, and we hope this bill eventually becomes law.

We suggest they develop an amendment aimed at those trying to win their way into office, something to the effect of “no recorded political solicitations shall be allowed.” When we desire political discourse, we can pick up a newspaper, turn on a decent television station, or even attend a rally or forum.

Remember the old days when the local political party would get a group of volunteers together who might call you and urge you to vote for some candidate or to get to the polls, perhaps ask if you needed a ride to the polls on election day? Then you talked to a live person, and you could make the choice to converse with the caller or, if you so desired, tell them where to get off the bus. Try “star 69ing” these recorded messages that have been coming this year and you get no one to even call back and complain to. They just keep coming, like the wave of credit card applications filling the trash bins and landfills of America.

Perhaps these irritating calls and their frequency are just a characteristic of this now-gone election season, but that’s probably not the case. Like negative campaigning, attack ads and the distortion of a competitor’s views, telemarketing for votes is probably here to stay. And so we have another feature on our political landscape that will alienate the electorate.