Voting Rights Watch: Hacker sends George Mason students fake e-mail with incorrect election date

By Sue Sturgis / November 4, 2008

Someone hacked into the e-mail system at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. early this morning and sent students a message that appeared to come from the provost telling them -- falsely -- that the election had been moved to Wednesday, the Washington Post reports:
The messaged, dated 1:16 a.m., Nov. 4, with the subject line : Election Day Update, read:
To the Mason Community:

Please note that election day has been moved to November 5th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Peter N. Stearns
Provost
Shortly after 8 a.m., the real Stearns sent a message to students, faculty and staff blaming the hoax on a compromise of the school's e-mail system, according to the paper. Distributing false information about elections is a misdemeanor crime in Virginia.

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