'Creepy' website wants you to spy on friends and neighbors come Election Day
A secret online campaign is encouraging voters to "hold your friends accountable" by checking their voting records. A commenter claims their records are incorrect.
On Wednesday, my friend texted me an image of a flyer he received in the mail warning him that his “neighbors are watching.” “I’m pretty disturbed by this,” he wrote. I thought for sure it was some obscure PAC, but it’s the Republican Party of Florida.”
The flyer features a photo of an older woman with binoculars pressed against her eyes. The title reads, “Have you voted yet? Your neighbors are watching.”
My first reaction was to laugh. It’s such a silly image. But the more I looked at the flyer, the more disturbed I became as well. Add it to the pile of horrible things Trump is willing to do to win, I thought.
Then, tonight, I received a text.
Which of your friends have voted, Jason? Check public records and help them remember to vote in 2024:
The use of my name felt vaguely intimidating. Almost menacing.
Normally, I don’t click on strange links from numbers I don’t recognize. I know better than that. But, of course, I immediately recalled my friend’s text from the other night. Was this from the same folks? Did the Republican Party of Florida have me in their database somewhere?
I copied the link and removed the tracking parameter before I pasted it into my browser: go-vote.org/didtheyvote.
The link forwarded to another web address. At the top of the site, it reads, “Did they vote? Whether someone voted is public, but who they voted for is private. Check and see below.” The message was similar to the flyer my friend received, but not verbatim. 
Below the message was a form where you could enter someone’s name, age, city, and state.
I couldn’t immediately determine who owned the site. The final URL belongs to a company called Impactive, which is a web app platform for texting, calling, and fundraising. Presumably, Impactive isn’t the web page’s creator but rather a tool used by whoever runs this secret campaign.
So, I did some digging, and found some videos. I didn't find anything that would indicate that the first two videos were advertisements, but it sure did read that way to me.
Part 1 of the YouTube video starts with a woman speaking to another woman on a video conference call.
“I found a creepy website, and I have to say, I’ve been internet stalking you.”
The website is DidMyFriendVote.org, which forwards to the same Impactive web address with the same form.
The video was published on the YouTube account Behavioral Change For Good. According to the organization’s website, two women in the video are Directors of BCFG: Katherine Milkman and Angela Duckworth.
Under the video is a single comment. It reads:
So l used this tool and searched myself. I have never voted in my life. I searched myself and it says I’ve voted in every general election since 2016. I haven’t. l’ve literally never been to a voting booth before. Im 40. What do I do about this? Is someone voting for me?
In Part 2, Richard Thaler joins the video conference with Milkman and Duckworth. The two from the original video inform Thaler that they’ll be watching him to ensure he votes.
Richard Thaler is an economist and behavioral scientist according to his wiki page.
I then found an Instagram video from the Her Campus organization posted three days ago. This time, the video was clearly marked as an advertisement -“Paid For Did They Vote.” I couldn't find anything online about this organization.
In the Her Campus video, a young woman talks about the same website from the YouTube videos.
“This tool is not to spy on people, but to help make people understand that their voices need to be heard.”
How does this tool do that, exactly?
It's hard to know if the flyer my friend received and the text message I received are from the same group. Both the Her Campus Video and the two BCFG videos felt like it was made for liberal audiences.
But the message is clear— if you decide not to vote, people are watching you. If you have a legitimate reason for why you can't vote— people are watching you. And even if you did vote, but the website got it wrong— people are watching you.
This is American politics in the 21st century. This is fucked.