On the corner of 35th and Community College Avenue, Ronnel Barfield gazes at the billboard standing above him and some friends. It sports an imposing gavel beneath the phrase, ‘VOTER FRAUD IS A FELONY…UP TO THREE AND A HALF YEARS IN PRISON AND $10,000 DOLLAR FINE’…all in stark, capital letters.

“A lot of people think it’s to scare African-American, ah, ex-felons, from voting," says Barfield.

Neither Barfield nor his friends say this makes any of them uneasy, but they say African-Americans with a record may see it and avoid the polls come Election Day.

National advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor sold the billboards, which have also appeared in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Milwaukee. The buyer is only identified as “a private family foundation”. A Clear Channel spokesman says it’s company policy to identify those behind billboard purchases, but says, “Policy was not followed in this case.”

As the buyer requested to stay anonymous in the contract, Clear Channel will never release their identity.

But after hearing from several African-American lawmakers, including Ohio state senator Nina Turner and City Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland, Clear Channel has now agreed to donate 10 new billboards Councilwoman Cleveland says will help assure voters across the city.

“In close proximity - if possible - to the original billboards that have gone up," she explains, "the billboard will actually say, `VOTING IS A RIGHT, NOT A CRIME'. The first of those should start going up, probably Monday.”

Cleveland says she’d have preferred the original billboards be taken down, but she’s still pleased that Clear Channel sympathized with her complaint and others from the black community.

Meanwhile, Cassandra Collier-Williams, who’s running for Cuyahoga County common pleas judge, says the whole incident is just an indication of the lengths some people are willing to go to help their side win in battleground Ohio.

“And you know, Cleveland is such an important part of the presidential election, because y’know, it comes through us," says Collier-Williams. "So anything that can stop someone from voting is a problem, because we want everybody to vote, and then may the best person win.”

Ex-felons in Ohio are allowed to vote, after their release from prison.