Election telephone hoax: Do you think you received false calls?

By CBC News

Elections Canada is investigating an election day telephone hoax after voters in three Ontario ridings reported receiving automated messages informing them their polling locations had changed.

CBC News has obtained a copy of a fraudulent automated telephone message reported in Guelph, Ottawa and Kitchener-Waterloo.

"This is an automated message from Elections Canada. Due to a projected increase in voter turnout your poll location has been changed," says one message, retrieved from a resident's telephone voicemail system in Guelph. "Your new voting location is at the old Quebec Street mall at 55 Wyndham Street North," the message states.

In fact, the polling locations had not been moved, Elections Canada said, adding frustrated voters were left scrambling trying to determine where to vote.

Elections Canada won't comment on the specifics of their investigation. By law it must issue a report within 90 days of the May 2 election chronicling all of the complaints and abuses reported during the course of the 2011 campaign.

The non-partisan agency is also investigating complaints by various Liberal candidates in Ontario that someone made repeated phone calls to voters during the campaign, purporting to be Liberal supporters, sometimes in the middle of the night.

CBC News learned of complaints from local Liberal campaign offices across Ontario, including Oakville, St. Catharines, Haldimand-Norfolk, Simcoe Grey, Guelph, Eglinton-Lawrence, St. Paul's and Mississauga East-Cooksville. The calls were also made in Egmont, P.E.I., and St. Boniface, Man.

Do you believe that you received a fraudulent phone call during the campaign or on election day? Did you contact Elections Canada? Let us know in the comments below or email us at yournews@cbc.ca.

(This survey is not scientific. It is based on readers' responses.)