Anonymous texts threaten college students with prison time if they vote: report

Voting rights groups are sounding the alarm about anonymous text messages allegedly sent to college students in Wisconsin, threatening them with prison if they vote, according to CNN.

"The unsolicited text, sent from at least one 262- number to cell phones of people in their early 20s on University of Wisconsin campuses and elsewhere, says: 'WARNING: Violating WI Statutes 12.13 & 6.18 may result in fines up to $10,000 or 3.5 years in prison. Don’t vote in a state where you’re not eligible,'" reported Katelyn Polantz.

Those statutes prohibit someone from voting by mail in a Wisconsin election if they have moved out of Wisconsin. They do not apply to students who moved to Wisconsin for school.

Voting rights groups fear that students could be intimidated out of voting by the message, with Free Speech for People's Courtney Hostetler warning, “It’s trying to convince students living in Wisconsin they don’t have a right to vote there.”

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The groups have sent a report about this incident in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, urging them to investigate the matter.

Lying to voters about election procedures with the intent to trick or intimidate them out of voting is a crime, and cases of this sort have resulted in convictions in recent history.

Doug Mackey, a far-right social media influencer who went by the name "Ricky Vaughn," was jailed over a 2016 scheme to misinform Black voters that they could cast ballots for Hillary Clinton by text message. And a the pro-Trump duo of Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman agreed to pay $1.25 million in penalties over an illegal robocall scheme that falsely warned Black voters in the Midwest that voting could re-activate outstanding warrants and debt collection against them.