Are voters getting burned out by political calls and texts?

And for voters across the tri-state, the countdown to Election Day brings a relentless barrage of political text messages. All right, some people even say they're hearing from candidates who aren't even in their home state. Fox 8's Jodi Goldberg is on top of the text fatigue people are feeling. Jodi. It is text fatigue. Say that three times fast. Well, there's been a steady stream of voters coming to cast their ballots early, but you just wonder how many of them are coming out after receiving these text messages. I got four today alone, and according to one survey, Americans are getting on average 13 of these political texts a week. 60% say they're becoming excessive. They want your vote. They want your money. And apparently, they really want your attention. With early voting set to begin later this week, political text messages are testing voters' patience. Oh yeah, get them all the time. Few times a day. And emails. Some of these messages are pushing races hundreds of miles away, asking local voters to support candidates in states like Kansas and Louisiana. They just want me to chip in money, like I have money to spare. And just when you think you've seen the last of them... I blocked that one, here comes five more. Tech experts call it a political pile-on. Adam Schwamm warns that some of these messages carry risks far beyond an annoying pitch. You can get one of these texts thinking that you're supporting your party, but in reality, you're not supporting your party, you're supporting a bad actor. So how do you stop them? Schwamm points out a few options. Blocking a number stops that specific sender. Reporting spam flags your service provider. According to the FCC political robotext rules, replying stop to a legitimate campaign text legally requires the sender to remove you from their list. You can also report unwanted spam by forwarding the text to 7726 or spam. I delete them. I don't even look at them. And these kind of text messages continue to dramatically increase. In 2022, according to call-in text apps, the number of political text messages sent, 15 billion. And in 2024, the number was expected to surpass 25 billion. Two years later, it only continues to go up. It's the modern day doorknock, except now campaigns land directly on your lock screens. They feel it's just the way for them to communicate now as opposed to email because they get it directly in front of you. But getting a message across doesn't guarantee a vote. I don't see how it is an effective way to troll for your money. Campaigns are fighting for every vote, but voters are fighting for peace and quiet. And that's proving to be a tough race to win. And so that's what we've got here. some other interesting statistics. You just understand that, you know, you don't know whether or not these people are coming out after receiving these text messages, but I'm sure you could agree everyone is getting some. And like you said in the beginning, people are getting them from races that aren't even taking place here on Long Island. Let's send it back to you, Steve. So exhausting. All right. We appreciate it. Thanks, Jode.