As early ballots arrived in mailboxes across Pima County this week, registered Democrats are concerned about a suspicious text alerting voters they’re not registered as permanent mail voters—when in fact, they are.
The Pima County Recorder’s Office even issued a warning to not open the text’s link to a Vote.org page on their Twitter account Thursday, Oct. 8, suspecting it could be fraudulent.
Registered Democrat Kristi Williams was perplexed by the text she received around 3 p.m. on Thursday saying she was not a permanent mail voter. When she opened her mailbox moments later, there sat the sage green envelope containing her early ballot.
“I was confused at first. I’ve been doing early voting for many years so I was shocked by the text,” Williams said. “I was also worried after seeing the link in the text that someone was trying to fish for information and trying to make it so my vote didn’t count.
Williams forwarded the text to her husband, Pima County Superintendent of Schools Dustin Williams, who warned the Pima County Democratic Party and officials at the County Recorder’s Office.
Turns out the text was sent by Oakland-based Resistance Labs, a political text-bank that supports progressive grassroots causes and candidates. The organization was helping facilitate early ballot registration texts for another group, Vote From Home 2020. Resistance Labs CEO Yoni Landau responded via email that his organization sends out tens of millions of texts a day and errors are inevitable.
“Our data is over 90 percent accurate,” Landau wrote. “We reach out beforehand to the Sec. of State staff in good faith before we start texting. We also immediately paused our texting and changed our script as soon as the Pima County staff let us know there was a problem with a link and with the data source.”
Landau estimates no more than 2,000 Pima County Democrats received the text since the company did not receive complaints from their texters, he wrote.
However, the Pima County Recorder’s Office received enough complaints to issue Thursday’s Twitter alert, county officials said.
The episode highlights heightened concerns about disinformation regarding early ballots, which growing numbers of Arizona voters have embraced in recent decades. More than three out of four voters cast ballots by mail or by dropping their ballots off at polling stations in 2018 and that number is expected to grow this year with voters avoiding polling places because of the risk of contracting coronavirus.
In an email, Vote.org Director of Programs Sydney Rose wrote, “There are many organizations who use our tools and this is an example of them linking to our resources within their messaging.”
Vote From Home 2020 has a goal of contacting 393,000 Arizona voters during the 2020 election, according to their website.
The Pima County Recorder’s Office recommends contacting them at 520-724-4350 if you receive suspicious texts and phone calls during the election year.
This article appears in Oct 8-14, 2020.
I had Recorder tell me they received returned mail and that is why I have not received my mail.in ballot. I received my sample ballot booklet, but not ballot! They say they mailed.ballot but it will not arrived until.next Friday. What is going on???
Patricia this is why I vote in person on election day with my two utility bills as ID. The people doing voter suppression could be hunted down ;but democrat party fears their own voter suppression of the green party would be exposed. Democrats also guilty of voter suppression as the n.y. democrat party is notorious for this, not counting 25% of the vote mostly patel votes to help maloney in congressional primary race this june.
And, all along you were telling us it was Russia!!!!!.
Now we know. It wasn’t the Russians, it was a liberal outfit from California.
Whew!!! That was close! Almost blew an artery. A suspicious text!!!!!
How many are they sending out at taxpayer expense???? A hundred million?
Nothing more pathetic than Republicans who can feel it all slipping away.
If you are accusing me huppy doo I got terminated from blog for arizona and DU for saying there was no collusion between dump and russia. Also that russian interference in 2016 election didn’t change any votes and was a joke compared to what ameriKKKa has done to interfere in other peoples elections including russia, israel, iran, dominican republic (we sent in the marines in 1965!) and many other places especially central america. Look up patrice lumumba. China and iran are interfering in are election on behave of biden but the media only talks about russia. Democrats signs have been disappearing hupptie doo that you again?
Another buddy movie coming to a theater too near too soon. One is a self-professed lefty who swallows every conspiracy theory that comes his way (while disregarding actual threats like a hostile foreign power interfering in our elections) the other is a former Superintendent of Education who wanted to deprive minority students of their proud heritage.
Ladies and Germs may I present for your entertaining pleasure: “Bucky and the Thuckwad”
willybud I just pointed out china and iran interfering on behalf of biden. Not that it amounts to anything as neither does russia’s either in 2016 or now. You trump derangement syndromers think an internet ad that nobody saw and ran mostly after the election is why your beloved whore lost is ridiculous. You forgot to mention what the actual threat to are election is except giving a meaning less word interference. Give evidence of actual voting interference in what precinct or what votes were changed by russia in 2016. You can’t so you just say interference. Pathetic helbot stooges. Was obama’s real interference in israel’s election bad too or clinton’s interference in russian election to help boris yeltsen?
Just got my ballot and under the barcode it says NON D. Did anybody else see that on theirs?
“…deprive Hispanics of their proud heritage…”
And, what proud heritage were they teaching? Was it any heritage at all?
The entire curriculum revolved around a German, Karl Marx who said that the history of mankind is the struggle between the oppressed and the oppressor.
So, we have a South American philosopher Palo Friere who imports Karl Marx’s philosophy from the U.S. into South America and you call it Hispanic heritage?
Look at the price that Latin America has paid for that philosophy. When every relationship has to be put into an oppressed/oppressor framework, you end up with a violent society. The murder rate in Latin America is ten times that of the U.S. When you define all successful businesses as “oppressors”, you end up with an economy that never prospers and creates few jobs.
Over 65 million people in Latin America live in multi-dimensional poverty: no running water, no electricity, no shoes, eating rats to survive.
That’s the “proud heritage”, the toxic stew, they were inculcating into these impressionable young minds.
hoopity doo. Silvestre herrera a mexican national was drafted in world war II and since he was not a citizen he did not have to serve and fight for america ;but loved america and went anyway. He won the congressional medal of honor and an american legion post is name after him. That heritage enough for you. By the way what branch of the service were you in, or were you like your fuhrer dump a 4F? At least you not spending all your time stealing democrat candidates campaign signs.
Bucky, Trump Derangement Syndrome is a made-up psychological term invented by Republicans to compensate for the fact they spent 8 years trying to pry a legitimately elected Democratic president out of office by creating tons of made up scandals, all of which were resoundingly debunked.
By the way, nice factual take down of the Thuckwad. Though I still think you and he would make a great buddy movie! :O)
“Silvestra Herrera”
Ethnic studies did not have a poster of Silvestra Herrera up on the wall of their classrooms.
They had a poster of Che Guevara up on the wall. Che Guevara shot 14,000 Cubans in the back of the head simply because their ideas and words.
Silvestra Herrera we can agree on. But, they didn’t teach his story.
Hoopity doo you forgot to tell us if you were a draft dodger or in the unlikely event what branch you served in. Too busy stealing democrat campaign signs? As for che how many people has capitalism killed?
Hoopy republicans have been putting up phony election ballot drop off boxes in democrat areas so their votes won’t be counted. Don’t get any ideas if they catch you won’t be able to connive your way out again.
Meanwhile, republicans are removing ballot collection boxes in Texas. Putting out fake ones in California. Fighting against actually counting ballots come November. And proposing we don’t recognize to ballot count and appointing electors to vote for trump. Oh, and Russia is in fact doing what they can to sway the election. These are the actual reality. Or we could just say that one candidate is endorsed by the New England Journal of Medicine and half the republican leadership of the last 30 years while the other by the KKK, Nazis and Taliban.
We will see an unprecedented cheating in this election by Democrats as we did in 2018. The odds that Sinema beat McSally by 30 percentage points in election day harvested ballots when she lost by 5 percentage points in all of the other ballots: zero.
In 2018, Democrats had 250 people on the street doing illegal harvesting. This year? Over 400.
These chickens will come home to roost. More and more poor people are realizing that Democrats are the party of the billionaires, people who specialize in destroying American jobs.
Arizona has been a job creation machine, creating over 1.2 million jobs since 1992, a one-hundred percent increase in jobs.
What are Democrats doing? Turning Arizona into Connecticut with Prop 208. Connecticut hasn’t created a single job since 1992. Now, we will have a tax on our most successful job creators that is higher than Connecticut’s highest tax rate. Pathetic public policy, sick public policy, destructive public policy.
Shut up bucky & thukwad. Most people around here, besides yourselves, have had enough of you dickheads. Get a clue. Wileybud might have fun with youse guyses dumbshit…because he’s obviously more tolerant than me. But a lot of us have had it. Neither one of you provide anything positive or of value to any conversation. Get back under your collective rocks and remain there. It’s weird how you guys love coming back to a place that obviously doesn’t want you. What kind of ignoramus does that self-destructive shit?
az/dc like your wanted? Beside huppyty do hasn’t told us if served or was a draft dodger.
I may or may not be wanted, it doesn’t matter. But I’m not someone who posts commentary multiple times everyday and keeps typing the same stale stuff. Talk about wearing out your welcome. It’s been old and stale for years. Nobody gives a rat’s ass that you’re flushing your third party vote down the toilet. The dislike ratio on your commentary is outstanding. These are obviously, except to you, the kind of comments that are not “wanted”. At least you always manage to squeeze in that one like right after you post your drivel. You got that going for you at least. 🤪
“…Republicans were removing ballot collection boxes…”
No, as the court noted on appeal, the Texas Governor was expanding ballot collection.
Sure Thuckwad, Expanding the number of ballot boxes from one per county to one per county. No matter how large the counties population.
Your Republicans are so confident of electoral victory they’ve placed unsanctioned ballot drop boxes in California. Illegally I might add.
Your party is made up of a bunch of losers. Weren’t you all listening when your mama told you if you have to cheat to win you’re a loser?
hoopty do must be a draft dodger since he refuses to tell us if he served. probably a chicken hawk! All you democrat party hacks like az/dc say trump bad (which he is) and democrats good over and over again. And you talk to me about repetition! Hellbot was worthless ;but like the communist party of old telling us how great “uncle” joe stalin was. The democrat party said hellbot is the anointed one you must all vote for are dear leader or else! They are pulling the same B.S. with biden fortunately for democrats he is not hated like hellbot was.