Mystery over vote-by-mail text refuted by Elections Office

Reporter: Justin Kase Writer: Rachel Murphy
Published: Updated:
False text about vote-by-mail purge (CREDIT: WINK News)

Some voters are receiving texts about their vote-by-mail enrollment being purged, but the Elections Office said they did not send the text.

False text about vote-by-mail purge (CREDIT: WINK News)

The Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office told WINK News they have not sent any text messages related to vote-by-mail requests. They said if you do get physical mail from their office, it will have the official logo on it along with the name of the supervisor of elections, Tommy Doyle.

Some initially thought it looked like an official communication.

“Text messaging now is a primary means of communication. I could see why somebody might be tricked into thinking that that’s legitimate,” said Brian Crump from Lee County.

At the bottom of the text, it says ‘PD4 LeeDems’. If you click the link, the page says at the bottom, ‘paid for by the Lee County Democratic Executive Committee’.

If you click the button that says ‘click here to re-enroll in vote-by-mail’ and click proceed, you can seemingly request a ballot for yourself or someone else.

The supervisor of elections office has said they can’t speak to the legitimacy of these links.
Instead, they advise people to go directly to the lee.vote website themselves.

Lee.vote website (CREDIT: Lee County Elections Office)

WINK News reached out to the Democratic Party of Lee County to see if the text message came from them, however their office was closed.

The supervisor of elections office does want to remind people that vote by mail requests expired at the end of 2022. You will have to make a new request if you’d like to vote by mail in the upcoming election cycle.

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