Getting unsolicited texts about the election? Here's how campaigns likely got your contact info

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- As Tuesday's primary approaches, voters are getting inundated with messages as campaigns ramp up their electronic and digital efforts in the final days.

Text messages are especially prevalent right now and a common question from voters is 'how did they get my number?'

The unsolicited messages are pushing candidates, causes, and issues that will be decided in Tuesday's high stakes primary.

Some share voting information like early voting sites or how to request a ballot by mail.

Others focus on local issues like the MPS funding referendum.

And some are nationally focused, like the push to vote 'Uninstructed' instead of for President Biden.

One message is sent by a conservative PAC that urges people to vote yes on the two constitutional amendment questions that concern election administration funding and poll workers.

The message says without 'yes' votes, "billionaires will continue pouring millions into Wisconsin."

The sender is Election Integrity PAC. It's solely funded by Restoration PAC, whose primary donor is Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, himself a billionaire from out of state.

But groups on both sides of the aisle are using publicly available data to target voters with specific messages.

Vote FTW is a progressive get-out-the-vote campaign that's run by a California technology company.

Their text messages cite Wisconsin voters by name, use their address, and send a picture of their polling location.

The common question we've heard is 'how do they know?'

But there's an easy answer: your voter information is easily available, to anyone, per state law.

Here's how it works: on the state's Badger Voters website, anyone can create a request.

You can then filter the data you'd like to see, or you can request the statewide list.

After clicking 'get estimate' you'll see it will cost $12,500 for more than 3.4 million current Wisconsin voter records.

Those records will show column after column of names and addresses of voters, phone numbers, and email addresses.

You can also see when and how someone registered, the precincts they vote in, which elections they've voted in, and the manner in which they voted.

All of that is allowed by state law, and there is no provision for a voter to prevent their data from being accessed.

But the Wisconsin Elections Commission cannot disclose some pieces of information, like date of birth, driver license number, or social security number.

And they'll never reveal how a person actually voted.