CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Secretary of State’s office has launched a new feature to report election law violations.
As states around the country voted Tuesday in elections, Secretary of State (SoS) Mac Warner announced the launching of his office’s new “See Something, Text Something!” election security campaign. Voters will be able to text the SoS Investigations Division to report allegations of wrongdoing during elections.
Warner told MetroNews that this program leverages the technology of cell phones and makes the process of reporting safer and easier.
“This would allow that immediate transfer of that information to us where we can put our investigators on to the situation very quickly,” he said.
Warner said that possible violations of election law can be confidentially reported from any common texting device in three steps:
1. Text WV to 45995 *Msg & Data rates may apply
2. Click on the incoming text link
3. Submit the Confidential Complaint
Once submitted, the complaint is received immediately by the WVSOS Investigations Division for action with a notice of receipt upon submission. Photos can even be submitted, Warner said.
Warner’s office said complaints made are kept confidential. By state law, employees of the WVSOS Office are not permitted to discuss any election investigation or complaint.
“In West Virginia, we’re continuing our effort in making it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” said Warner in a release. “The general public plays a vital role in helping my office and our county clerks keep elections fair and secure.”
“The See Something, Text Something! campaign is another way for us to use today’s technology to increase voter confidence in the election process,” Warner said. “The higher the level of confidence, the higher voter participation is in our elections.”
The new campaign is patterned off of “See Something, Say Something!” campaign that Warner kicked off in the 2018 election cycle. In that campaign, citizens witnessing possible election fraud were asked to call the WV Secretary of State’s Toll Free Election Fraud Hotline at 877-FRAUD-WV.
Warner said he expects the number of complaints filed with the office to rise based on the accessibility to file a complaint. The total number of closed investigations from the SoS office on election complaints in 2021 so far equals 48, according to the SoS office. Other yearly totals include 2020 – 120; 2019 – 99; 2018 – 154; 2017- 246.
The campaign runs through next year’s November 2022 General Election.