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UF Combats Bogus Text Message With E-mail

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By WILLIAM MARCH | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2008

5:04 p.m.: The University of Florida has sent an e-mail to its student body seeking to correct a false text message telling students they can vote tomorrow; a Florida State University spokesman says they haven't heard of the problem.

The text message, apparently received by some students in Gainesville, urges Obama supporters to vote Wednesday.

UF spokesman Steve Orlando said the university administration got a few calls from students who had received the message, then got a call from the elections supervisor's office asking the university to help combat it. In response, Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin just sent an e-mail to the student body emphasizing that polls close today and won't be open tomorrow.

"Most of our students who are voting, it's their first time," Orlando said, leaving them vulnerable to misinformation.

FSU spokesman Barry Ray said the university hasn't heard any reports of the problem.

Voting ends at 7 p.m. eastern time today -- 7 p.m. central time in the western Panhandle -- but polls will stay open long enough to accommodate voters who are in line at that time.

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