Michigan officials warned voters of robocalls on Tuesday morning, saying that calls were going to residents in Flint, a city with a large Black population, in an effort to confuse voters and lower turnout.
Michigan’s secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, said that calls were warning people in Flint of long lines at polling places and suggesting that voters wait until Wednesday to cast ballots. Polls in Michigan close at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
“I want to ensure everyone who plans to vote in person understands they must do so — or be in line to do so — by 8 p.m. today,” Ms. Benson said in a statement.
She added that lines in the Flint area were “minimal and moving quickly.”
The robocall complaint came a day after Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, warned of text messages being sent to voters in Dearborn that warned of “ballot sensor” malfunctions in the polling places there.
The message, which is being investigated by the state Attorney General’s office, told voters that if they wanted their preferred presidential candidate vote to count, then they really had to mark the ballot for the other candidate.
“Don’t fall for it,” Ms. Nessel said on Twitter. “It’s a trick.”
