Robocalls Before the Midterms

In August, the conservative group Club for Growth asked the FCC to change that before the midterms. Its petition asks to reach cellphones "using an artificial or prerecorded voice—including an AI-generated voice—without obtaining prior express consent".

Its president, David McIntosh, says political speech deserves the same treatment as "package deliveries, bank accounts, and doctor's appointments", as Reuters reported on 7 October 2026.

The FCC received the petition for waiver on 31 August 2026. Its public notice of 4 September set comments for 5 October and replies for 19 October.

An FCC commissioner, Anna Gomez, said on 8 October 2026 that the waiver "would bring chaos so close to Election Day".

Senator Chuck Schumer: campaigns "could use their opponents' voice to send out a message that is, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, a blatant lie", as Reuters reported on 19 October.

Common Cause filed in opposition. Communications Daily names the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Campaign Legal Center and EPIC among the commenters opposed.

The FCC itself? A spokesperson told Reuters there are "zero plans" to act on it. Unless that changes, the rule stands through Election Day.

Reuters reported it on 19 October 2026. Its text carries a typo; Politico and Communications Daily have 'zero plans to do so'.

We re-checked the docket on 28 October 2026: no order, grant or denial on the petition. It was still 27 October in Washington at that check.

The rule that stands is the FCC's declaratory ruling of 8 February 2024, FCC 24-17. It says an AI-generated voice is "artificial" under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, so such calls to cellphones need prior express consent.

The rule has a history. In January 2024, voters in New Hampshire got a call in what appeared to be an AI clone of President Biden's voice, telling them to save their vote for November. The FCC fined the consultant behind it six million dollars. A civil court found him liable. A criminal jury acquitted him on every count.

Each step comes from the document that states it. The calls went out on 21 January 2024; the count, 5,000 to 25,000, is Nomorobo's estimate as the state's Department of Justice quoted it. The FCC's ruling followed on 8 February 2024, and the carrier Lingo's $1 million civil penalty on 21 August 2024.

The $6 million forfeiture against the consultant came on 26 September 2024 (FCC 24-104). A civil consent judgment for other defendants followed on 29 May 2025, his acquittal on all 22 criminal counts on 13 June 2025, and a civil default judgment and injunction against him on 20 November 2025.

So the states are writing their own rules. About thirty now have election-deepfake laws, by Public Citizen's count. Louisiana's law, in force since August, names phone calls outright: an AI call in a public figure's voice must say so at the start.

Public Citizen's tracker, updated 21 October 2026, counted at source: 31 states with an election-deepfake law in force. That is 33 'Enacted' entries less Hawaii, struck down, and Massachusetts, sunset; Illinois, folded into an omnibus, is not counted. Public Citizen's own headline of May said 30.

Louisiana's Act 559 was signed on 29 May 2026 and has been in force since 1 August 2026.

Nomorobo's call estimate at Nomorobo itself; we have it as the New Hampshire Department of Justice's release quoted it. Whether Tennessee's and Vermont's laws reach phone calls in practice. Any FCC action dated 28 October in Washington, since the check ran while it was still 27 October there.