SPOKANE, Wash. — If you live in Spokane County, you may have received an anonymous text with questions on Spokane's upcoming mayoral race.
This survey comes with Spokane County's 2023 primary election just two months away. KREM 2 spent the day tracking down the creator of that survey and asking if the survey can be sent out anonymously.
THE QUESTIONS
- Who created the survey?
- Are the Nadine Woodward and Lisa Brown campaigns behind these texts?
- Is it required for the creator to identify themselves in the survey?
THE SOURCES
One of the anonymous text messages tells the user, "Have your voice heard. Answer our short survey about the Spokane Local Elections."
The link opens to a questionnaire about the city of Spokane's upcoming mayoral race. One of the questions asked, "If the primary election happened today, who would you be most likely to vote for?"
A section of the survey also shared specific information on the candidates, asking if certain statements made the user more or less likely to support them. Statements on mayoral candidate Lisa Brown spoke to unfavorable aspects of her campaign.
One of those statements is "As Commerce Director, Lisa Brown prioritized politics over solutions, allowing homelessness to skyrocket and even oversaw the homeless encampment at Camp Hope where the situation deteriorated so greatly that the encampment became a security threat to nearby residents and businesses."
Statements on incumbent mayor Nadine Woodward were overall more favorable.
One said "Mayor Nadine Woodward helped lead Spokane out of the Covid crisis and prioritized economic growth by ensuring small businesses had the resources they needed to grow throughout Spokane."
HERE'S WHAT WE CAN CONFIRM NOW
The Spokane County Elections Office, the People for Nadine Woodward Campaign and the Lisa Brown for Mayor Campaign all claim the survey did not come from their offices.
And at this point, KREM 2 cannot verify who made the survey. That's because right now, the Public Disclosure Commission website shows no reports of individual expenditures. This means no outside contributors have reported spending funds for or against Brown or Woodward.
More context is needed to answer the question on whether or not it is required for the creator to identify themselves.
The Public Disclosure Commission website says:
"Most political advertising must include a message that explains who paid for it (sponsor identification). The law also dictates where and how the sponsor ID message is displayed. Campaigns and most other advertising sponsors must report to the PDC how much money was spent on advertising, which candidates or ballot measures benefited from the advertising and, in some cases, when the advertising was presented to the public."
The PDC told KREM 2 a survey like this should have a sponsorship ID, but it does not.
So KREM 2 can verify, the campaigns for Woodward and Brown did not create this survey.
But we may soon find out if a group outside the campaign did. That is, once the PDC filings are updated next week.
In the meantime, the Washington Secretary of State advises all voters to scrutinize links from unknown sources.
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