RALEIGH – The State Board of Elections is investigating a possible scam targeting North Carolinians with unsolicited text messages regarding their voter registration status or asking them to register to vote, the department announced in a news release Thursday evening.
The board said that recipients of the text messages should not click on the link embedded in the text and delete any such text messages from their phone. The link sends recipients to what purports to be Vote.org’s website, but Vote.org officials confirmed Thursday that they are not sending the text messages.
The State Board said it is investigating and will alert state and federal authorities about the issue.
“We know these texts can be confusing to voters, and we take this situation very seriously,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “We urge all North Carolinians to get information about voting and voter registration from trusted, reliable sources, including your state and county boards of elections.”
Vote.org also released a statement on Thursday:
“We at Vote.org take voter integrity and protection very seriously and ask that voters reach out directly to officials if they believe they have been contacted without solicitation. Text messages received in the last week were not that of Vote.org. We will continue to protect your vote, stay in communication with the North Carolina State Board of Elections and encourage voters to reference state registration websites and our official platforms at Vote.org. All communications received from Vote.org are marked as being such and can be found on official platforms.”
Voters can check their registration status at any time using the State Board voter lookup tool at https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/.
If you would like to register to vote, the voter registration application can be found at https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/Voter_Registration/NCVoterRegForm_06W.pdf.
For more information on voter registration in North Carolina, visit the State Board website at https://www.ncsbe.gov/Voters/Registering-to-Vote.
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