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Company says text messages with false voting information sent in error

by Zach Schonfeld - 11/01/22 11:29 AM ET

A political text message firm said on Monday it mistakenly sent incorrect voting information to residents in five states.

Movement Labs, which supports progressive organizations, said it takes “full responsibility” after sending the incorrect texts on behalf of Voto Latino, Black Voters Matter and Voting Futures to people in Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia.

“In some of our texts, we sent addresses and images of drop-box locations when we intended only to include in-person early vote locations,” Movement Labs said in a statement. “We didn’t specify in our text that we were trying to encourage voters to vote early. Some voters familiar with their election day location thought we were telling them to vote on election day at an early vote location.”

New Jersey and Kansas’s secretaries of state had warned about the text messages earlier on Monday, characterizing them as misinformation.

“Text messages containing election misinformation are being sent to some NJ voters,” tweeted New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way (D). “Election officials are the best source for election info. Voters should visit vote.nj.gov to verify voter registration and polling location before voting in the 2022 election.”

Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab (R) indicated the messages often directed a voter to an incorrect polling location within their county.

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“Voters should be on high alert for these messages,” said Schwab. “The Secretary of State’s office does not use third parties to contact voters or share election information on our behalf. State and local election officials are the trusted sources for election information, and I encourage voters to contact our office or their county election office for assistance.”

Movement Labs said it reached out to each voter that received a message from the firm echoing the sentiments of the two secretaries of state.

“This program relies on difficult-to-compile polling location data from multiple sources matched to individuals on the voter file, and we fell short of our rigorous standards with these errors,” the company said.

The progressive firm earlier this month sent texts to Oregon voters with inaccurate information, KGW8 reported.