“Free Speech For People issued a letter today to US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, demanding that they investigate threatening text messages, identify the source, and promptly take appropriate enforcement action against the perpetrators in order to protect Wisconsin’s voters.”

“Last week, thousands of young Wisconsin voters received a threatening text message: ‘WARNING: Violating WI Statutes 12.13 & 6.18 may result in fines up to $10,000 or 3.5 years in prison. Don’t vote in a state where you’re not eligible. STOP2END.’ It was distributed widely across Wisconsin, but specifically targeted young voters 18-25 years of age, including young staff members of the League of Women Voters and many voters across the University of Wisconsin system. It is not yet known how many thousands of voters received this message. Its sender remains anonymous.”

“Wisconsin law is clear: students who live and attend college in Wisconsin are allowed to choose whether to register to vote with their school address or their home address; and Wisconsin residents who attend college out-of-state may elect to vote absentee in Wisconsin. But now, while voting by mail is ongoing and one week before early in-person voting begins, students may be wondering whether their decision to vote in Wisconsin will subject them to investigation and prosecution – and whether the safest course of action is to avoid registering or voting at all,” says a press release from the Wisconsin League of Women voters on some fuckery in these Cheesehead State. The law only mandates that a voter have lived in the state for 28 days before voting and has for quite a while.

Earlier this year Republicans in the state legislature tried and failed to pass a bill requiring public colleges to “educate” first year out-of-state students on how to vote absentee in their home states.

But let’s not jump to conclusions here on which side is sending these intimidating texts to the kids.