A sinister jape that last surfaced during the 2004 election is back, it seems. Obama supporters have been receiving text messages from unknown phone numbers instructing them that, because of the long queues forming at polling stations (the wait is now up to three hours at the University of Central Florida), voting is being split over two days and Democrats should now cast their votes on Wednesday - a day after the polls, in fact, close.

 

Election Protection, a non-partisan group that tracks voting problems, and CNN have both shown examples of the messages, which are also surfacing on Twitter. The former reported receiving 50,000 calls to its hotline - including many calls from frustrated voters in Ohio who had been "inexplicably dropped from the list of registered voters."

 

Snopes.com, a website that dispels urban legends, says: "Although this item may seem like a bit of obvious and frivolous election year humour, it's bnd to fool or confuse some people, and when it made the rounds of the internet back in 2000, officials started making grumbling noises about seeking prosecutions for voter fraud."