Or, more likely, from their automated surrogates.

And that did not make many voters happy.

After the state's most-watched primary election in modern memory, the Senate has passed a bill that would curb the use of robo calls for political purposes.

The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware), would create a do-not-call list - much like the one already in existence for telemarketers - for automated calls in political campaigns.

"I don't think there's anyone with a phone in Pennsylvania that did not receive multiple robo calls" during the run-up to the April 22 primary election," Pileggi said. "I don't think anyone really welcomes those calls and this bill gives people a choice."

A similar bill is under consideration in the state House, but the chances of success in a chamber where Democratic and Republican lawmakers also use automated calls to communicate with constituents is unclear.

A spokesman for Gov. Rendell said the governor supported the concept of a do-not-call list for political robo calls but wanted to review any legislation in its final form.

As the use of robo calls in political campaigns has increased - and the tenor of some has gotten nastier - movements have begun in state legislatures and Congress to limit or even ban them.

What started as a novelty more than a decade ago is now an integral part of campaigning, from local council elections to presidential contests.

Two-thirds of registered voters in the nation received recorded campaign telephone messages in 2006, according to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Pew also found that robo calls were now the top method of campaign outreach, surpassing live calls and mass-mailings.

In recent years, as voter discontent has increased, nine states have adopted laws banning the calls or restricting when and how frequently they can be made. Some require entities sponsoring the calls to specifically identify themselves.

And 21 states, including New Jersey, are considering bills to restrict robo calls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

At the federal level, Sen. Arlen Specter, (R., Pa.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D., Calif.), have sponsored a bill that would restrict the hours such calls could be placed and limit the number of calls each household could receive each day.

"This legislation creates a much-needed structure for addressing the harassing computer-automated calls," Specter said when the bill was introduced in February.

The issue has sparked a national debate that pits First Amendment rights against privacy rights.

Political consultants argue that the relatively inexpensive calls help level the playing field for challengers running against well-funded incumbents. They draw a distinction between commercial calls and political speech.

"We feel very strongly that this communications tool is a means for the underfunded underdog to communicate with voters," said Brad Chism, president of Zata3, a Democratic political consulting firm in Washington. "The nuisance factor does not outweigh fundamental freedoms our country was founded on."

But at the same time, Chism concedes that "underhanded individuals" have used the calls to suppress votes or spread malicious rumors about candidates.

Shaun Dakin, a former business executive, is so frustrated by what he sees as the automation of campaigns that he founded Citizens for Civil Discourse, a group seeking to restore humans to telephonic political debate.

The organization asks candidates to pledge that they won't use automated calls.

"The trend I've seen is not volunteers and phone banks and talking to voters. It has been mechanized, and the metaphor for that is robo calls," Dakin said. "They're cheap, they control the message, and annoy a lot of people."

In Pennsylvania, elected officials use them for more than campaigning. House members of both parties use automated calls to inform constituents about issues including town hall meetings, legislative committee hearings, and deadlines for state programs.

"These are not political robo calls for a campaign, this is an electronic form of communication with constituents," said Tom Andrews, spokesman for House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene).

The Senate enacted rules last year banning all forms of automated calls that use state money, but the ban applies only to that chamber. The new Senate bill would not ban the House calls.

There have been some legal challenges to state robo call laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In 2006, the Indiana attorney general sued a Virginia company for making unauthorized robo calls. The state law was later upheld in federal court.