Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign asked students at all three of the state’s public universities for their votes in mass texts sent out over the weekend, causing an uproar from GOP activists, influencers, and leaders. A leading Senate Republican has threatened to launch an investigation the matter.
Other posts and reports online indicate that students at nearly all other major universities nationwide received the same vote-request texts as well.
Arizona State University (ASU), University of Arizona (UA), and Northern Arizona University (NAU) students all received texts from the Harris campaign ahead of Monday’s deadline to register to vote.
The three universities and the Arizona Board of Regents told Arizona Daily Star that they’re required by federal law to make student contact information public unless students opt out, meaning all that data is available with a public request. The three universities also reported that they didn’t receive any requests from the Harris campaign, likely meaning a third party acquired and supplied the data.
“Hi [Wildcats/Sun Devils/Lumberjacks], it’s Kamala Harris. I wanted to remind you that the deadline to register to vote in Arizona is Monday, October 7. Thanks to record turnout among college students in 2020, I am Vice President of the United States today. Tim Walz and I are the underdogs in this election, but student voters could make all the difference. We need your support to win. As a [University of Arizona/Arizona State University/Northern Arizona University] student, you can register and vote in Arizona. Register to vote at your on or off campus housing address today at [iwillvote.com/uaz / iwillvote.com/asu / iwillvote.com/nau ]. Your vote is your voice and your power. You must not let anybody take your power from you. – Kamala Harris.”
🚨MAJOR BREAKING: 150,000 students from ALL Arizona universities including ASU and UofA have received a text from Kamala Harris' campaign telling the students to vote for her.
If Kamala Harris has access to all of Arizona college students' phone numbers, what ELSE do they have? pic.twitter.com/YlolDGSr9T
— College Republicans at ASU (@asu_gop) October 6, 2024
Those “I Will Vote” links lead to a landing site paid for by the Democratic National Committee.
State Senator Jake Hoffman said that he would open a full Senate investigation. Hoffman claimed that political campaigns may not access the personally identifiable information of public university students within Arizona.
“I’m receiving lots of evidence from many Arizona public university students who received unsolicited text messages promoting Kamala Harris for president that appear to have come from Arizona universities illegally providing their personally identifiable information to her campaign,” said Hoffman. “This seems like yet more election interference in Arizona, which is why my investigation for the Arizona Senate has already begun.”
🚨KAMALA EXPLOITS PRIVATE STUDENT DATA FOR CAMPAIGN
It is ILLEGAL for political campaigns to access personally identifiable information (PII) of public university students within AZ.
This is a MAJOR security breach!
I will be opening a full Senate investigation immediately. https://t.co/mfYFrQ6met
— Jake Hoffman (@JakeHoffmanAZ) October 7, 2024
However, the three universities said that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) considers phone numbers to be “directory information,” as well as student names, addresses, date and place of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, and dates of attendance.
“A school may disclose ‘directory information’ to third parties without consent if it has given public notice of the types of information which it has designated as ‘directory information,’ the parent’s or eligible student’s right to restrict the disclosure of such information, and the period of time within which a parent or eligible student has to notify the school in writing that he or she does not want any or all of those types of information designated as ‘directory information,’” says the Department of Education website.
Even so, right-wing activists and influencers online demanded an investigation.
Charlie Kirk, CEO and founder of Phoenix-based Turning Point USA, called the mass texting effort “a major scandal” necessitating investigation. TPUSA’s activism arm, Turning Point Action, has launched a “ballot-chasing” operation in key swing states, including Arizona.
Where did the Kamala Harris campaign get access to this database? This is a major scandal. AZ House needs to investigate immediately. https://t.co/20hpudQza5
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 7, 2024
FCC regulations require prior consent for robotexts using an autodialer, but messages sent manually may be sent without prior consent.
Those who believe they received a political robocall or text that does not comply with the FCC’s rules may file a complaint with the FCC at fcc.gov/complaints. Reports may be also filed by forwarding the texts to 7726 (or “SPAM”).
How on earth is a students birthday, origin of birth, home address, email, etc considered “public directory” info? All that’s missing for any scammer anywhere is their SSN and their identity can be stolen.
I can see a subset of the info be made available to a private audience of students only, with student permission. The school staff has no reason for this info. 45 years ago my college provided a student directory with a list of names, hometown, and college resident location only. All else is an invasion of privacy
EINOs, g t h !
(evangelicals in name only ad for Harris).
Out of state students should not be allowerd to vote in Arizona elections. They should be voting absentee for the states they are from.
This isn’t limited to Harris. As a university student I also received similar texts from the retard party asking me to vote for dump.
Happy to provide screenshots.
This comment and sentiment show everyone who is the retarded and how today’s sad majority is preconditioned and brainwashed.
You will realize someday that the democrat party only represents the élite and academics along with the filthy rich like Bezos, Zuckerberg and the the other billionaires. Also, Harris represents the deep state because she has no ideas of her own and would only be a puppet. That is what the Democrats want, a puppet.
Too late to investigate, complain or do anything. It happened already and cannot be undone. The Ds outsmarted the Rs again. Stop following so called rules Rs. Go in with full force like the Ds do. That is how to win.
Stop your pissin’ & moanin’ about this…it’s SOP under Arizona’s feckless ABOR (AZ Board of Regents) oversight of the STATE’S LARGEST BUDGET ITEMS. So get a clue, you boobs, complain to your Legislators about their feckless system of oversight.
“The three universities and the Arizona Board of Regents told Arizona Daily Star that they’re required by federal law to make student contact information public unless students opt out”
I’m not a Kamala supporter but, lets get real. What is so inappropriate about a political campaign using a list of people that is freely available to the public to contact voters? Would this also be inappropriate if a Republican did it? How about the Green Party? I think this is a non-issue. If we want to have government monitors on who party advocates are allowed to contact, maybe we should create a new US agency similar to the KGB or the Gestapo. Oh never mind. I forgot, the FBI is already performing those functions.
Hopefully, a majority of students will punish Camela’s invasion of their privacy by voting for DJT.
Until democrats begin to experience the disciplinary actions for their crimes, they will not stop cheating and stealing and lying. That’s the only path to power for a party and ideology that is evil and detrimental to society.
so any ‘university student’ is now ‘a monitored person’ e-mail – thought – work – communications with any and everyone – yours is no longer ‘yours’ it politically monitored information – welcome to the new AMERIKA… same for us all now forward. Every move you make – I’ll be watching you…
Read the terms of service when setting up an email account, website or buying a domain. All these companies monitor what’s on your website and emails “to provide you with better service,” and most flat out say if anything appears that is “hurtful” they can shut you down at their whim. So for all their blather about protecting your “security” they can shut you off for being offended by something that was not meant for anyone else to see. Free speech my a**.
When has any politician ever followed any moral rules? Ethics? LOL LOL
student records are pubic to the point of communication from a political party… ? I would be ON FIRE FOR THIS LAPSE OF SECURITY ! NO EXCUSE! Crossed the line – you want to present your case – campaign – knock yourself out – want to invade university records to gain mail points – BS!