photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County elections office at 711 W. 23rd St. is pictured Monday, Oct. 31, 2022.

Some Douglas County voters may have recently received a text message directing them to the incorrect polling place, and Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab is warning voters to be cautious of following their instructions.

The text messages appear to come from an organization called Voting Futures Trust, but others have been attributed to two more well-established national get out the vote organizations: Black Voters Matter and Voto Latino. They include a voter’s name and address and state that “public records suggest you may not have voted yet.” Along with that identifying information, the texts include a photo and address for a polling place that some Journal-World readers have reported is not the correct one based on their current addresses. Regardless of which organization the text is attributed to, each seems to have the same form letter composition.

“Voters should be on high alert for these messages,” Schwab said in a news release Monday. “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.”

The website for Voting Futures Trust is fairly bare bones, consisting only of a text box to enter an address and find a polling location. But on the organization’s Facebook page, people from around the country have commented in the past few days reporting similar issues about receiving a text directing them to the incorrect polling place. Others in those comment threads say the texts sent to them suggested they go vote at the polling place for an address they’ve not lived at for years.

Black Voters Matter and Voto Latino, for their part, both issued statements Monday acknowledging the error. A statement from Black Voters Matter notes that the messages were sent to voters via its third-party vendor, Movement Labs. That vendor has acknowledged and taken full responsibility for the error, the statement says.

“The last thing we ever want is for our outreach to be confused with intentional disinformation which is sometimes targeted to our communities,” the statement reads.

In response to a request for comment from the Journal-World, Voto Latino sent back a statement from the organization’s vice president of programs, Ameer Patel. In the statement, Patel also notes that Voto Latino has been made aware of the issue and apologizes for any confusion those texts may have caused. Patel said the organization’s vendor, whom he doesn’t name, had a database issue, and they’re in the process of contacting everyone who may have received incorrect information to clear up any confusion. Patel said Voto Latino has also suspended any future campaigns with that vendor.

Text messages correcting the error were starting to come in for voters in Lawrence late Monday afternoon. A message, which again was attributed to Voto Latino, says the organization “may have sent you a picture and address of a dropbox or early voting location, and that information may not have been correct.” The message then directs the recipient to visit the Kansas Secretary of State’s website to find their correct polling place information.

Early voting in Douglas County began Oct. 19 and continues through Nov. 7. Voters can cast a ballot in person at the County Election Office, 711 W. 23rd St., or at various other locations in Lawrence and around the county. For a full list of hours at the Election Office and other locations to vote early, visit the Douglas County Elections Office web page.