How to find out who’s behind the political text messages you’re getting
Thousands of Maine voters got a surprise on their phones in the days before the June primary: a text message telling them to back a three-candidate Democratic slate for governor.
"Stand with the slate for a better Maine," the message read. "Troy Jackson, Hannah Pingree and Shenna Bellows have cross-endorsed each other in next week's Dem primary for governor."
The text urged voters to rank the three candidates at the top of their ranked-choice ballots and included a link to a news story. It was signed simply with the initials "VR."
The lack of a clear sender prompted a complaint from the campaign of fellow Democratic candidate Nirav Shah to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. It also left many recipients wondering exactly who was trying to sway their vote.
The sender turned out to be VoteRise, a California-based political group. The group later apologized, telling the ethics commission it had been relying on rules from other states and believed that listing its name in the link to the news article was enough to satisfy disclosure requirements. Two follow-up messages sent on June 8 and 9 included a proper "Paid for by VoteRise" label.
The commission is now weighing whether to fine the group. State law allows a financial penalty of up to the amount of the expenditure, which in this case totaled $705 for the initial message. The three texts combined cost just over $2,100. The commission is also examining whether VoteRise should have registered as a political action committee with the state. Maine law requires any group that raises or spends more than $2,500 in a calendar year to influence a state or local election to register as a PAC. VoteRise is already registered with the Federal Election Commission, where the threshold to register is $1,000.
Under Maine law, text messages sent using mass distribution technology must clearly identify the person or group that paid for them if the message expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a candidate, or includes a link to a website that does so. That rule, like the rest of the state's campaign finance disclosure requirements, is enforced by the ethics commission, which maintains a searchable database of registrations and campaign finance reports on its website. Federal candidates and PACs file their disclosures with the FEC.
The penalties for failing to register or file on time can be substantial. A PAC that registers late can be fined up to $2,500, with additional penalties possible for late campaign finance reports. The biggest fine the commission has ever levied was $500,000 in 2017 against a group of ballot question committees tied to a York County casino initiative that failed to register and file reports. That penalty was later reduced to $100,000 in a settlement.
Not every political text message has to come with a disclosure. Polls and surveys sent by text are generally treated as research and fall outside Maine's campaign finance reporting requirements. State law explicitly exempts telephone polls from disclosure rules, and many pollsters have shifted at least some of their work to text messages because they are cheaper and faster, even if the responses tend to be less detailed.
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said text-based surveys often suffer from lower completion rates and can struggle to capture nuance, but they remain attractive for reaching large numbers of people quickly.
Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, said there is no single sign that guarantees a text poll is legitimate. Instead, she suggested, voters should ask whether the pollster is willing to say who conducted the survey, who paid for it, what was asked, who was sampled and how the results were weighted.
"Anyone worth trusting will answer these questions," Koning said. "And if they do, then individuals should absolutely participate in the survey."
Koning added that the most reliable pollsters tend to be academic institutions or established news organizations, and that legitimate pollsters will always provide a way to be contacted and will never ask for money, volunteer commitments or sensitive information like a Social Security number.
Voters should also be aware that some texts from unknown numbers may not be polls at all but voter identification work for a campaign, Paleologos said. Campaigns use those efforts to build lists of supporters and undecided voters who can later be targeted with mail, door knocks or other outreach.
A campaign-conducted survey is not automatically illegitimate, Koning said, but respondents should pay attention to the questions themselves. Loaded or one-sided questions can be a warning sign, as can surveys that seem designed to push a particular message rather than measure opinion, a tactic known as a "push poll."
With the 2026 election cycle in full swing and outside spending on Maine races climbing, more political text messages are likely headed to phones across the state in the coming months. State campaign finance filings, available through the ethics commission's online portal, remain the best resource for anyone trying to track exactly who is paying for them.
