United States Politics: ∆τ_i*ε*φ*m_i<0 where ε=4 and φ=0.25

[benji]

Thousands of Pennsylvania voters received a text message this weekend that falsely claimed that they had already voted in the Nov. 5 election.

“Records show you voted,” the text read, linking them to an official Pennsylvania website with information about polling places and early voting.

But the message did not come from an official government resource or a well-known get-out-the-vote advocacy group. Instead, it was signed by “AllVote,” a self-proclaimed voter-mobilization program that election officials have repeatedly flagged as a scam to be avoided and ignored.

If “AllVote” sounds familiar, the name has been linked to other confusion-sowing text campaigns in the lead-up to the election. Montgomery County officials in August warned voters about “AllVote.com” that was texting registered voters and falsely claiming that they were not registered to vote — part of a scam to “capture personal, sensitive information from voters in an attempt to exploit them later on,” election commissioners said.

Election officials in Arizona and North Carolina raised concerns about text campaigns from an organization with the same name in recent months.

On Monday, however, a representative from AllVote insisted that it was a misunderstanding.

Charlotte Clymer, a contracted spokesperson for AllVote, sent The Inquirer an apologetic statement, describing the texts as a well-intended reminder-turned-disastrous mistake, thanks to a typo committed by staffers.

“We are mortified by this mistake and the confusion it has caused,” the organization said in the statement.

Clymer described AllVote as “funded by progressive donors aiming to increase voting participation” but declined to provide details about the group’s backers. A political action committee with that name was registered this year. Yet little public information is available about AllVote, and its website lists no founder or staffers.

Clymer said the organization does not disclose its backers for fear of being targeted by the far-right. She also said that election officials and news reports that issued statements characterizing their recent efforts as phishing scams were incorrect.

“The vast majority of our messages only include official .gov links,” Clymer said in an email. “We’ve seen negative stories from elections offices coming out, even when we are just sending people to their website. For good reason, election officials are reacting quickly, but unfortunately, they aren’t always verifying their suspicions before they publish a press release (or reaching out to us).”