If you feel like you’re bombarded with political text messages, it’s not your imagination. According to Robokiller, a call-blocking service, political texts outpaced phone calls by a wide margin. Its analysis estimated people received 253 million political robotexts and 1.1 million political robocalls in December 2023. In the final stretch of this election, is there anything consumers can do to mute the messages?
According to the FCC, campaign calls and texts are exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry requirements. However, campaigns must follow rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
If you don’t want to receive texts from a campaign, reply “STOP.” Per the FCC, legitimate campaigns should honor opt-out requests.
Keep in mind, you may see scam texts. They may claim there’s an issue with your voter registration. Don’t respond to suspicious texts or click any links. Instead, you can check your voter registration through the Texas Secretary of State's website.
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You may see text messages asking for donations. If you’d like to donate, you can look up the candidate or cause and donate through the official website.
Depending on your mobile phone type, you may have a setting that filters messages from numbers that are not already in your contacts. For example, on an iPhone, we could open settings, tap the messages icon and scroll to “filter unknown senders.” To enable, slide the button to the “on” position. It is an option to help limit texts you don’t want to see.
According to the FCC, if you receive texts you didn't ask for, report the sender by forwarding the texts to 7726 (or "SPAM"). If you believe you’re receiving texts or robocalls that don’t follow FCC rules, you can file an informal complaint through the FCC's website.
You can find NBC 5's complete Voter Guide here. North Texans can find answers to many frequently asked questions, including what's on your ballot, how to find transportation to the polls and what identification a voter needs to show in order to vote.
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