How to stop political texts before Tuesday

Somewhere in your Messages app, a stranger has typed "FINAL NOTICE!" and expects you to take it personally. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, so the donate-now and vote-now texts are going to keep coming. Some of them won't come from a campaign at all.

Your phone has settings that cut down the pile, and a few signs that give the fake ones away.

What to do

1. Turn on your phone's unknown-sender filter: Screen Unknown Senders on iPhone, Spam and scam protection in Google Messages.
2. Report junk texts as spam in your messaging app, then block the number.
3. Forward the text to 7726 (SPAM), or tap the report option your app gives you.
4. Reply STOP only if you recognize the campaign or group as real. If you don't, skip the reply.
5. Don't tap a link in a text that asks you to donate, register, pay or "confirm" anything. Go to the real website yourself.

Screen unknown senders on iPhone

This is the setting that moves texts from numbers you haven't texted before into a separate folder, so they stop landing in your main list. On iOS 26 it's called Screen Unknown Senders, and it's off by default, so check it. If you had the older Filter Unknown Senders switch on in iOS 18, the new one switched on when you updated.

1. Open Messages.
2. Tap the Filters button, then tap Manage Filtering.
3. Turn on Screen Unknown Senders. You can also find it in Settings > Apps > Messages, under Unknown Senders.
4. To keep alerts from some unknown senders, such as a bank's verification code, tap Allow Notifications and turn on only the categories you want.

Texts from those numbers now wait in the Unknown Senders filter. You only hear about the categories you allowed, and everything else sits quietly until you decide to look, which for a campaign blast is a fine place for it. A real message from a doctor's office or a school you haven't saved can land there too, so look in the folder once a day. If a sender is real, open the message and tap Mark as Known. Easy.

While you're in Manage Filtering, check that "Filter spam" is on. It's on by default.

To report one that got through: if you haven't opened it, swipe left on the message and choose Delete and Report Spam. If you've opened it, tap the Report Spam link at the bottom, then Delete and Report Spam. You can't report a message after you've replied to it, so skip the reply. Reporting doesn't stop the number from texting you, so block it too: open the conversation, tap the person's icon at the top, tap Info, scroll down and tap Block Contact.

Turn on spam protection in Google Messages

On a phone that uses the Google Messages app, spam and scam protection is on in its standard setting by default. Check that nobody switched it off.

1. Open Google Messages.
2. At the top right, tap your profile picture or initials.
3. Tap Messages settings, then Protection & Safety, then Spam and scam protection.
4. Pick Standard protection or Enhanced protection. Avoid "No protection."

You'll only see this menu if your device offers it, and Enhanced isn't on every phone. Suspected spam goes to a Spam & blocked folder instead of your inbox, and if the app flags a text you actually wanted, or misses one you didn't, you can tap Report not spam or Report spam right on the warning so the filter learns from it.

For one that got through, touch and hold the conversation, tap Block, check Report spam, then tap OK. Inside a conversation, tap More options > Details > Block & report spam > OK. A report might also send the number and the latest text to your carrier. That's the setup. If your phone uses a different texting app, look in that app's settings for spam or block options.

Reply STOP only when you know who's texting

A political campaign that texts you has rules to follow. If the text was sent by an autodialer, the campaign needs your consent first. A text typed and sent by hand doesn't. Campaign texts are also exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry requirements, so signing up there won't help with them. A campaign should honor your request when you reply STOP.

So when a text comes from a group you recognize, such as a campaign you signed up with or gave your number to, replying STOP is a fair move. But a text from a number you don't recognize is another matter, and so is one that looks like a scam. Don't respond to it and don't click its links. On an iPhone, replying also means you can't report the text afterward. Report it, block the number and delete it. If a text from a number you don't know asks for money, a password or a Social Security number, or pushes you to tap a link before you've had time to think, treat it the same way whether it mentions a candidate, a ballot or a prize.

Scam texts can look polite. A fake voter-registration text reported in Maryland in 2024 ended with "Reply Stop to end." A STOP line doesn't make a text real.

Forward junk texts to 7726

Copy the text and forward it to 7726 (SPAM). Your wireless provider uses these reports to spot and block similar messages. Most mobile carriers support this, but check with yours.

If the text came from a political campaign and you think it broke the rules, you can also file a complaint at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov. To report a scam to the FTC, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC can't take forwarded messages there, so paste the text into the comments box and don't click any link in it.

Calls are a separate fight with their own tools. Our spam calls guide covers them.

Spot a fake donate or vote text

Real campaigns text a lot, and scammers copy their names, logos and slogans, so the branding on a text tells you very little and what the text asks you to do tells you more. Here are the tells.

A text that says you're not registered to vote and sends you to a link to fix it is a known scheme. The link leads to a fake registration page that collects your personal details. If you want to check your registration, type the address of your state or county election office into your browser yourself, or use vote.gov.

A text that says you can vote or register by text, or by tapping a link, is a red flag. Voting rules vary by state, so confirm yours with your state or county election office.

Be suspicious of any text that wants personal information or a payment to vote or to register. State election offices spell out their own rules. Maryland's board texts from one number, links only to .gov sites and doesn't ask for personal information by text. North Carolina's state and county boards don't send texts asking you to vote. Those texts often come from political or advocacy groups, which is legal but can be confusing.

Calls and messages saying polls have closed, or that you don't need to vote, have turned up in past elections. Check hours and your polling place with your election office, not with the text. A text claiming you haven't voted yet can also be wrong, because political groups work from data that may be out of date. If you know you already voted, don't vote again. Voting twice is a crime.

On donations, urgency is the tell. A text that pushes you to give right now, with "URGENT" or a countdown, wants you to act before you check. Campaign donations aren't an investment and won't be returned, so ignore any text that promises a payout if a candidate wins. Some fake PACs look real. If you want to give, find the campaign or committee's official website on your own and check its registration and financial filings on the Federal Election Commission site. Online sellers of "official" campaign merchandise can take your money and send nothing.

If you've found a scam, report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov or your local FBI field office. Give them the number, the text and how you were asked to pay.

If you already tapped a link or paid, stop talking to the sender, change any passwords you may have shared, turn on two-step sign-in and call your bank or card company. Our clicked a scam link guide walks through the rest.

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