Missouri county clerks warn voters of messages, websites with wrong polling location

With just four days until Missouri voters cast their ballots, county clerks across the state are reminding them to double check their polling locations.

Johnson County Clerk Diane Thompson said her office was notified Thursday of a text message sent to a voter telling them to vote at the wrong location.

“They had received a text from an unknown number telling them they needed to vote at a precinct in our county that they knew was not their correct precinct,” Thompson said. “It was actually located in another town.”

Thompson said she tried calling and texting the number, but couldn’t reach a person on the other end. She said her office doesn’t use a text message system to communicate with voters.

At this time, she said it’s unclear how many, if any, other people received the text with the wrong information. Thompson is asking voters to ignore it and verify their polling place at their local county clerk office.

“When you don’t go to vote on a regular basis, you don’t always know where your polling place is,” she said. “Voters are getting these text messages and they’re taking them at face value and assuming that they’re true. They’re going to be upset when they get to the wrong place and they’re told they have to go somewhere else.”

Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren said her office hasn’t received any reports from voters about the polling location text message, but said they’ve had at least one report of an email with the incorrect information.

“It’s very problematic,” she said.

Noren also said she’s concerned about websites that allow people to look up their polling place by typing in their address. She said some sites aren’t updated with the new locations for this year’s elections.

“My recommendation is people not use any site where you enter your address and it tells you where to vote or gives you a ballot,” she said. “These places don’t get their data from me. I have no idea how they create their data.”

Click here to double check your polling place in Boone County.

Callaway County Clerk Denise Hubbard said her office hasn’t received any reports of polling information sent through text messages or emails, but encourages voters to call if they do get one.

In Cole County, Steve Korsmeyer, said the clerk’s office has gotten one report of a text sent with the wrong polling location. Like many other county clerk’s, his office does not send out text messages to voters. He’s asking residents to use common sense when receiving information about Tuesday’s election.