The Bucks County Board of Elections is making residents aware of a potential voter intimidation/misinformation campaign.
According to county election officials, a group representing themselves as “Voter Protection” or “Volunteers with Voter Protection” is calling or texting voters to inform them that there is:
- Some discrepancy in their voter information/their voter information is incorrect.
- They were not registered/are no longer registered.
- They would not be receiving a mail-in ballot because their identification was wrong.
- Their April Primary vote wasn’t counted due to voter ID status issues.
So far, these calls/texts derive from non-Bucks County area codes and ultimately instruct voters to then “call the Board of Elections” and provide a phone number.
These calls are designed to sound official but are not authorized by, nor connected in any way to, the Bucks County Board of Elections. Upon checking voter records of those Bucks residents who reported being contacted by these individuals, no such discrepancies or issues were found with those voters’ records, or their votes being counted.
Should the Bucks County Board of Elections need to call you, they will always identify themselves as an employee and the caller ID will read “County of Bucks” “215-348-6000.” The Bucks County Board of Elections primarily corresponds with voters via official mail sent through the United States Postal Service.
“This is yet another attempt to sow confusion, distrust, and misinformation in our election process and disenfranchise duly registered voters. The Bucks County Board of Elections condemns this fraudulent activity in the strongest possible terms and has referred these messages to the District Attorney,” said Bucks County Board of Elections Chairman Bob Harvie.
Officials at every level of government Lower Bucks Source has spoken with over the last month has been reading reports of similar if not exact efforts in battleground states, which Pennsylvania is to be considered, experts say.
“My message to those perpetrating this behavior is: we will not be intimidated by rogue groups seeking to undermine our democratic institutions. We will continue to remain vigilant in conducting free and fair elections. We will ensure that every vote is counted. Voters will not be threatened on my watch.”
The Bucks County Board of Elections encourages voters to remain vigilant. Anyone receiving these types of messages or other elections communications they consider potentially intimidating or fraudulent should contact the Board of Elections at 215-348-6154 to file a report.
As a FYI, if you’re not registered to vote, you may choose to either vote in-person or by mail. Either way, the deadline to register is Monday, Oct. 21. Registration may be done online at this link.
Those interested in voting by mail may apply for an absentee or mail-in ballot here.
The deadline to apply for the ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 29 and completed ballots need to be received by the Bucks County Board of Elections by 8 p.m. on Election Day.
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