Voters in Battleground States Are Getting Robocalls Discouraging Them From Going to the Polls

By Albert Samaha, BuzzFeed

03 November 20

“It definitely hit on the anxieties my family has had about the election.”

s Americans across the country make their way to the polls on Election Day, residents in Michigan, North Carolina, Nebraska, and Kansas have reported receiving robocalls discouraging them from casting their ballot.

Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen stated in a tweet that residents were getting “anonymous phone calls to voters telling voters to ‘stay home and stay safe.’” The Kansas Secretary of State's office also warned that there have been "robocalls telling voters to stay home."

BuzzFeed News has journalists around the US bringing you trustworthy stories on the 2020 Elections. To help keep this news free, become a member.

Hashim Warren, a registered Democrat in Guilford County, North Carolina, who already voted earlier this week, told BuzzFeed News he received a similar anonymous message today telling him to "stay home and stay safe" shortly before 10 a.m.

“It was sort of creepy,” he told BuzzFeed News. “It definitely hit on the anxieties my family has had about the election.”

Residents of Flint, Michigan, have also gotten robocalls this morning falsely informing them that “due to long lines, they should vote tomorrow,” state Attorney General Dana Nessel stated in a tweet.

People in parts of Michigan that tend to vote Democrat have for weeks received robocalls dissuading them from casting their votes. On Monday, Nessel warned residents of Dearborn about text messages “being sent to trick you into thinking there are ballot sensor issues.” Last month, two right-wing activists were charged with violating election laws for orchestrating a scheme that targeted around 85,000 registered voters, including in Detroit, and falsely claimed that mailing in their ballots would increase the chances of police arresting them for outstanding warrants or debt collectors tracking them down for unpaid bills.

While votes submitted before Election Day already amount to around 70% of the turnout in 2016, millions of Americans are expected to make their way to polling places today, as the country awaits the results of a contentious election.

In some states, local officials have faced technical problems.

In Spalding County, Georgia, local officials switched from voting machines to paper ballots due to what they called a “computer glitch” that shut down the system, WSBTV reported.

Franklin County, Ohio, switched to a manual check-in process after poll workers were “not able to upload all early in-person voting data into their electronic check-in system,” the state’s board of elections stated in a series of tweet. “It will not impact the security or accuracy of today’s vote. It's important to note that this does NOT impact voting machines in any way, and only modifies how voters are checked in.”

Voting machines were also temporarily down in Upshur County, Texas, before getting fixed before the morning was over, KYTX reported.