Election officials work to prevent rumors, false fraud claims in heated political climate
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An unknown number of Illinois voters received texts this week telling them where to vote – but it was the wrong location.
As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported, election officials say some of the texts went to Chicago voters, as well as those around the state. It raises concerns in this heated election cycle – and is also prompting officials to reassure voters the system is secure.
Voters have been casting their midterm ballots in person for the last couple of weeks. But in just the past few days, unsolicited texts to hundreds of voters caused confusion.
"The problem was many times, the polling places they were referring voters to were not the voters' polling places," said Illinois Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich.
Dietrich said the elections board got dozens of complaints about the texts. They were sent out by a group called Movement Labs on behalf of Voto Latino, Black Votes Matter, and Voting Futures.
The elections board contacted the group, which put out an apology – stating it takes "full responsibility for these mistakes." But Dietrich said in a time of election deniers and false claims of election fraud, an issue like this could be a big problem.
"It's all a form of voter suppression. That's what our concern is when seeing things like this," Dietrich said.
Northwestern University professor Cynthia Wang agrees.
"Even if they're casting doubt – using rhetoric in kind of more subtle ways – it still can be very, very effective in influencing people's decisions," Wang said.
Cook County Deputy Clerk of Elections Edmund Michalowski said dispelling any fraud claims and election rumors – while giving voters facts – is one reason the Cook County Clerk's office has now put up a website about election security. He called such false claims "harmful to democracy."
Michalowski said the county Clerk's office has never provided such an advisement before.
"There's a lot of things we didn't have to do before 2020," he said.
Michalowski said that also includes answering at least a dozen calls a day from people questioning ballots, election integrity, and the system.
"We have to defend the idea of something that's not real," he said.
Michalowski said the system is secure, and tens of thousands of people from all political parties work to ensure that.
"We work tirelessly – seven days a week at times – to make sure things are right," he said.
As to how this political climate is affecting voter turnout, election officials say early voting numbers are higher now than at this time in the 2018 midterm.
