Fort Worth residents warned not to share info on website seeking to ‘verify’ votes
County officials are advising Fort Worth residents to ignore a post card that asks them to verify their vote by entering personal information on a non-secure website.
The postcard, sent to some Fort Worth residents, says “Find out if your vote counted in Fort Worth.” Inside, it says the recipient received the notice because records show they voted in the May 1 election. The card says it wants to make sure no irregular votes were added and that people’s votes counted. Four council seats, the mayor and a school board seat were decided in Saturday’s runoff.
A web address is listed where people can “verify their vote.”
“Our goal is to identify any voting irregularities and help Fort Worth have the most fair elections in the country,” the pamphlet reads. The Department of Homeland Security said the 2020 general election was the most secure in history.
Heider Garcia, the county’s elections administrator, said in a statement that the county has no knowledge of who is sending the pamphlets or why.
“We have no control over any information entered on this site nor do we know what they might do with that information,” he said.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office is also urging that people not engage. A spokesperson said the office is unaware of the pamphlet being mailed out elsewhere in the state and is asking that people who get the pamphlet discard it, spokesperson Stephen Chang said in a statement.
“As Tarrant County has stated — they did not send this postcard, and it is not an official mailing,” he said. “Texas has a secret ballot and anybody claiming to be able to tell a voter about their individual ballot is attempting to deceive voters. We encourage voters to be very cautious regarding such claims and that they guard their personal information from use by third parties making such claims.”
The website, created May 17, is registered under Comport Consulting Group, an IT and Tech company based in Benbrook.
Scam-Detector.com gives the site its lowest rating, zero out of 100, with 100 being the most reputable. The fraud prevention website said 53 factors went into its ranking and tagged it “high-risk,” “beware” and “phishing.”
Brian Childers, president of Comport Consulting Group, said in an email that the website uses public data to determine if people’s votes on May 1 were recorded. Childers also said his company does not sponsor the website, but only used it as a way to reserve the domain name.
“It is our desire and prayer that this website will help reveal that this Election was of the highest integrity,” Childers said.
The website asks people to enter their last name, address and ZIP code.
Tarrant County voters can safely look up their information at elections.tarrantcounty.com/voterlookup or by calling the Tarrant County Elections Office at 817-831-8683 or by emailing elections@tarrantcounty.com. No voting history is available on the Elections website.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said the website is not county approved and that people should not be putting their information out there.
“You’re giving your information to somebody you don’t know. And quite honestly, you don’t know whether the information they’re showing has been manipulated or not,” Whitley said.
Sharen Wilson, Tarrant County criminal district attorney, also urged caution. “You don’t know what they will do with your information,” she said in a statement.
Peggy Hendon, president of the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County, said the pamphlet and website have also been brought to the league’s attention. They too are recommending anyone who received the pamphlet not enter their information on the promoted website.
“We have no idea who this organization (is) or what they are,” she said of the pamphlet and website. “We have never heard of them.”
Hendon said the League of Women Voters of Texas, the state chapter of the organization, has been made aware of the pamphlet and is looking into whether the cards have gone out in any other parts of Texas.
Brian Wooddell, a Fort Worth resident, received the pamphlet and said it seemed to him that someone was trying to sow mistrust in the elections.
The pamphlet also can be used to prey on those who already distrust the process, he said.
“To me, it seemed like fear-mongering,” Wooddell said. “That there’s a chance that my vote didn’t count, even though I know that better.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2021 at 1:03 PM.
