How Do Candidates Get Your Contact Information? (Video)

"Registered to vote basically," says El Paso County Elections Manager Liz Olson.  "When somebody registers to vote, that information is public information."

When you register to vote, you're asked for your name, address, phone number and other identifying information.

"A residential address, mailing address, party affiliation, registration date, phone number, anything like that is public information," says Olson.  "They can't get a social security number, they can't get a driver's license number and they cannot get a full date of birth."

Back to your phone number, though, it's a piece of information you never had to be on your registration form.

"Phone number is not required when you register to vote," says Olson.  "Simply write us or fax us a letter and ask us to take that phone number off of your voter record."

That could stop future phone calls, but if candidates already have a list with your number on it, your phone may still ring.

"Just because it's removed from your voter record, doesn't mean that those calls are going to stop necessarily," says Olson.

Anyone can buy this information from any Clerk and Recorder or third-party.  El Paso County sells the voter registration lists for 50-cents per precinct, or about $193 for all El Paso County voters.

Political calls are not exempt from the national no call list.  However, there is a non-profit organization that has started a political no call list, although it's not legally binding.

Click here to learn more about the National Political Do Not Call Registry.

"We work with politicians, candidates and robo-calling firms to get them to not call people who are on our list," says National Political Do Not Call Registry CEO Shaun Dakin.

Dakin says seven lawmakers have agreed to not call people who have registered with his website.  He says none of those seven are from Colorado.

There is a bill in front of Congress to limit political phone calls, but so far it hasn't made it through the process.