On the day of last week's federal election, voters all over the country received mysterious phone calls sowing confusion about where and how they could vote. The calls represent, a new and growing battleground where political parties engage in dirty tricks intended to prevent their opponents' supporters from casting their ballots. The CBC's Dave Seglins brings us the results of his investigation into what happened. And we talk to Allen Raymond, the author of How To Rig An Election.

---

Part One of The Current

Satire

It's Wednesday May 11th.

New research has discovered gas in the drinking water near hydraulic fracturing drilling sites.

Currently, this explains why the price of tap water in these areas just jumped to a dollar thirty-nine a litre.

This is The Current.

Dirty Election Secrets - Dave Seglins

On election day last week, a number of Canadians received mysterious phone calls that sowed confusion about where and how they could vote. Those calls are just one part of what some believe is an elaborate dirty tricks campaign.

As you may have heard on the news, Elections Canada is now investigating a series of complaints about telephone campaign abuses. The CBC's Dave Seglins is tracking those complaints and he has been conducting his own investigation. He was in our Toronto studio.

Dirty Election Secrets - Allen Raymond

As Dave mentioned, these kinds of tactics aren't new to U.S. politics. During a Senate race in New Hampshire in 2002, a Republican Party operative named Allen Raymond was paid to jam the opponent's get-out-the-vote phone banks ... a move that ended up costing him several months in a federal prison.

Since then, Allen Raymond has written a book about the experience called How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative. Allen Raymond was in Washington.

Related Links:

• Elections agency probes harassing calls By Dave Seglins and Laura Payton - CBC News
• A Tale of Political Dirty Tricks Makes the Case for Election Reform By Adam Cohen - New York Times

Other segments from today's show:

• Shale Gas & Fracking
• Something Fierce: Carmen Aguirre