WI voters receive text that rights group says discourages voting

The unsolicited texts arrived less than a month before Election Day. Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes, which went to President Joe Biden in 2020 and former President Donald Trump in 2016.

“WARNING: Violation of WI Statutes 12.13 and 6.18 may result in fines of up to $10,000 or 3.5 years in prison,” it reads. “Don’t vote in a state where you are not eligible.”

These laws refer to former Wisconsin residents voting by mail and the legal definition of voter fraud.

Some text originated from Wisconsin’s 262 area code. There is no indication that a group is behind the messages.

As a result, the city of Madison, Wisconsin, reported the texts to Dane County Prosecutor Ismael Ozanne, and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin reported them to Attorney General Merrick Garland. The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin said the messages could amount to voter intimidation.

“The fact that the messages were sent via text message does not make them any less threatening or any less illegal. In effect, the technology made the message more dangerous, because the sender was able to intimidate
thousands of voters in a short time,” the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin wrote in a letter. “Parties that commit acts of voter intimidation should not be allowed to hide behind technology or benefit from the anonymity of text messages. We urge your offices to promptly and thoroughly investigate these texts, make public the identity of the party(ies) responsible for disseminating these texts, and take appropriate enforcement action against the perpetrators.

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This campaign mimics the robocall operation led by Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman that targeted black voters in several states and falsely claimed that “personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to find old money orders and be used by credit card. companies to collect unpaid debts,” according to the Federal Communications Commission filing. The FCC has proposed fining them for every phone call they make before the 2020 election.

Ultimately, Wohl and Burkman paid $1.2 million in fines. Additionally, in Ohio, they were sentenced to two years of probation and 500 hours of voter registration.