Voting rights groups call for investigation into Wisconsin text message | WUWM 89.7 FM

Voting rights advocates on Tuesday called on state and federal authorities to investigate anonymous text messages that appeared to be directed at young voters in Wisconsin and warn them against voting in a state where they are ineligible to vote.

Free Speech for People submitted the request to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Wisconsin Department of Justice on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. The letter said that “thousands of young voters across Wisconsin” received the text message last week, including employees of the League of Women Voters and students at the University of Wisconsin.

The text in question cites Wisconsin state law prohibiting voting in more than one location and states that violating the law could result in fines of up to $10,000 and 3.5 years in prison.

“Do not vote in a state where you are not eligible to vote,” the text said.

Wisconsin is known for its razor-thin presidential elections. Four of the last six games were decided by less than one percentage point. President Joe Biden won in 2020 by fewer than 21,000 votes.

At least one person who received the text posted it on social media platform X.

The League of Women Voters said in its motion to investigate that without immediate action, “the sender could continue his efforts to intimidate eligible young voters into not voting.”

Students attending college in Wisconsin can register to vote at either their home address or their school address.

“But now many students and other young voters fear that they will be prosecuted if they register and exercise their right to vote – because of a malicious, inaccurate text sent by an anonymous party,” the letter said.

The US Justice Department declined to comment.

Wisconsin Department of Justice spokeswoman Gillian Drummond said the department takes allegations of possible election law violations seriously. She said the agency is reviewing the information in the request for an investigation and will assess “what if follow-up action is appropriate based on the facts and the law.”

Mark Pitsch, spokesman for the Universities of Wisconsin, said in an email that system officials were not aware of a security breach that may have resulted in a leak of students’ contact information. He added that system officials were not told about the text and there was no indication of how many students may have received it.

Riley Vetterkind, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said in an email to The Associated Press that the commission could not determine whether the text message violated state law because the commission had not received a formal complaint about it.

However, he called the message “worrying” and said it could certainly create a sense of intimidation among recipients. He urged recipients to contact law enforcement directly if they are concerned about the message.

“We understand that these third-party text messages can be very frustrating for voters,” Vetterkind said. “We encourage voters to rely on official election information sources, such as state or local election officials. “Voters are free to ignore these text messages because they are not sent or associated with an official source.”

The text message was sent as thousands of voters in Wisconsin cast absentee ballots. As of Monday, nearly 240,000 mail-in ballots had already been returned nationwide.

Starting October 22nd, voters can cast their postal votes in person. Former President Barack Obama plans to attend a rally that day in Madison along with current vice presidential candidate Tim Walz to encourage early voting.

Wisconsin, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, is one of the “blue wall” states that is crucial to Vice President Kamala Harris’ strategy to defeat Republican Donald Trump.