African-American voters in Champaign receiving false texts about voting locations

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - African-American voters in Champaign have been receiving text messages about a new voting location.

But Champaign County Clerk, Aaron Ammons said that these texts are not accurate. A press conference was held Wednesday to address the misinformation.

According to Ammons, the messages began yesterday afternoon. 

“These messages are not affiliated with the Champaign County Clerk’s office. They were sent by a third-party vendor of an organization called Black Voters Matter. Black Voters Matter contracted with a third-party vendor to send push notifications to voters,” said Ammons.

The messages stated that the residents would now have to drive to Gifford, Illinois to cast their vote. 

“I have not had an opportunity to speak to anyone from Black Voters Matter or Movement Labs. We wanted to immediately jump on this to make sure that our voters here in Champaign County got the accurate information that they need to make sure they know that it did not come from the election authority here locally and what they can do to resolve the issue,” stated Ammons.

Ammons explained that this was brought to his attention from multiple phone calls to the County Clerk's office, and multiple social media posts as well. Ammons also reminded everyone that any eligible voter can vote at any voting location.

“And if you’re not registered, you can register and vote at any of those polling locations. So, what we’ve done as a vision to create voting centers is a way to actually address this situation in one fell swoop,” said Ammons.

The midterm election is next next Tuesday, November 8th.