A phony flier, purporting to be from the Virginia Board of Elections, is circulating in the African-American-heavy Hampton Roads region of the state, falsely informing people that, because of expected high turnout, Democrats should vote on November 5th.
The election is November 4th.
State election officials informed the local press of the flier, which was posted on the website of The Virginian-Pilot, and is designed to look like an official announcement. It even uses images of the state board logo and the state seal, both of which are available online.
It reads:
Due to the larger than expected voter turnout in this years [sic] electoral process, An [sic] emergency session of the General Assembly has adopted the following emergency regulations to ease the load on local electorial [sic] precincts and ensure a fair electorial [sic] process.
All Democratic party supporters and independent voters supporting Democratic candidates shall vote on November 5th as adopted by emergency regulation of the Virginia General Assembly.
All Republican party supporters and independent voters supporting Republican candidates shall vote on November 4th as precribed [sic] by law.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but felt this was the only way to ensure fairness to the complete electorial [sic] process.
State police are looking into the flier’s provenance, according to election officials. It can be a federal crime to attempt to obstruct someone from voting.
Virginia, where Barack Obama currently leads, is a crucial swing state in the election.