Voters in Pulaski and Tazewell counties have received election-related text messages on the eve of the Nov. 5 election that could be a part of a spam campaign or a potential phishing scam.
The messages appear to follow a similar pattern. They suggest that votes cast early have not been counted or say that the recipient is marked as not voted yet, when in fact they have.
They say something to the effect of, “According to our records, you DID NOT vote early. Tomorrow is election day. Can the future of America count on you to vote? 13 hours. 780 minutes. That’s how much time you have tomorrow to save our country. See you at the polls.”
Other messages have directed voters to click on a link where they might be prompted to provide personal information or political preferences.
In many cases, voters who have cast their ballot early have received these types of messages, prompting many to either respond to the message or to call into their local registrar’s office to check the status of their ballot.
What’s the deal?
“These messages rely on three things: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. By using these tactics, the message senders cause alarm, and the recipients of these messages often click the website address included in the message,” Leann Phillips, the registrar for Pulaski County, said. “The reality is that the senders do not have access to voter registration or voter activity information.”
Her office became aware of the spam campaign or phishing scam after a number of voters called in to check on the status of their ballot. Phillips said she is unsure where the text message campaign originated or how the telephone numbers for message recipients were gathered.
“It seems like the scammers try to take every avenue that they can to try to get people’s information and we don’t want voters to be affected by that,” she said.
Brian Earls, registrar in Tazewell County, confirmed that at least one voter had called his office to ask about the status of their ballot after they had received a text message that said, “We see that you have not voted early.” The message encouraged the voter, who had indeed already cast their ballot, to vote in-person on Election Day.
What should voters do if they receive similar messages?
The Pulaski County Registrar’s Office suggests that people do the following if one of these messages is received:
- Delete the message. Do not respond. Use the option to “report as junk” if available.
- Recipients of the messages may also choose to block the number from which the message was sent.
- If voters are concerned about their registration status, they can double check their registration by visiting the Virginia Department of Elections website at: https://vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation
Voters are welcome to call their local registrar’s office if they want to confirm that their ballot was received if they voted early or absentee, or they can go online to the Virginia Department of Elections website under the citizen portal and check their voter history to make sure that the 2024 election appears.
