The Kansas Secretary of State is warning that text messages from outside the state are passing on incorrect information about where to vote, but two national groups involved in the texting said they weren't trying to confuse or mislead people.
The complaints about the texts began Sunday. Each message said it was from a representative of Voting Futures, Voto Latino or Black Voters Matter and provided the address of a voting site, with a picture of a building. In some cases, the person already had voted; in others, people couldn't vote in advance at the listed site, and in some, people could vote in advance there, but not on Election Day, Nov. 8.
Voters who learned of the texts worried that a disinformation campaign had targeted their voters in hopes of preventing their ballots from counting or discouraging them from voting. And Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab said voters should be on “high alert" about potential election misinformation from such texts.
While Voting Futures did not respond to a Facebook message seeking comment, both Voto Latino and Black Voters Matter said the incorrect information to voters came from the vendor handling the texts. Voto Latino called it a “database issue” and said it was contacting the voters who had received incorrect information.
“We are deeply sorry for the confusion that these text messages created and have taken steps to correct this situation,” Black Voters Matter said. “The last thing we ever want is for our outreach to be confused with intentional disinformation which is sometimes targeted to our communities.”
Kansas counties began allowing people to vote in advance in-person Oct. 19, and people don't need a reason to request a mail ballot. While mail ballots must be postmarked Nov. 8 or before, they can still be counted if they arrive in election offices by Nov. 11.
Schwab said in a statement that his office doesn’t use third parties to send information to voters and urged them to contact state and local officials if they have questions, or go to the VoteKansas.gov website.
Voters across the state reported that they started receiving texts Sunday from the three groups about where they could vote, including in the Kansas City area, Wichita and Topeka.