County officials warn of ‘smishing’ scam

Lehigh County election officials has issued a warning to voters of a suspected “smishing” scam.

The Lehigh County Board of Elections has learned of text messages being sent to registered voters telling them there is a problem with their voter registration and urging them to take action to update their status, a news release states.

The text messages, known as smishing or phishing attempts, read: “We have you in our records as not registered to vote. Check your registration status and register in two minutes at http://all-vote.com/vfi?utm¿term=90F3 stop=end.”

Timothy Benyo, chief clerk to the Board of Elections, warns voters the Office of Voter Registration does not communicate with voters via text and is not sending the text messages. Instead, the messages are being sent by a third-party and clicking on the link contained in the message may corrupt the user’s phone.

Benyo cautions voters against clicking on links or sharing personal information in response to these messages.

The Office of Voter Registration will never ask for personal information without first speaking with a voter directly or sending correspondence via mail.

Residents may check the status of their voter registration or register to vote by visiting vote.pa.gov or contacting the Lehigh County Office of Voter Registration at 610-782-3194.

The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 General Election is Oct. 21.

PA Sureme Court says toss misdated ballots

Misdated ballots shouldn’t count in Pennsylvania, according to a ruling from the state Supreme Court.

The 4-3 ruling reverses a lower court decision that deemed the mandate unconstitutional.

In the opinion, the majority rejected weighing in because it was only filed against two of the state’s 67 counties, Allegheny and Philadelphia.

Since the case’s merits were not litigated, the plaintiffs – including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Interest Law Center – are free to refile the complaint.

State law requires mail-in ballots to be signed, dated and returned in a secrecy envelope to be counted. In the 2022 midterm election, roughly 10,000 votes were tossed due to submission errors.

The court’s decision means counties can disqualify thousands of misdated votes in the November general election, where former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris remain in a dead heat, according to recent polling.

Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes are the biggest prize among the seven swing states.