Detroit billboard shows wrong date to get out and vote

Officials are working to remove a prominent Detroit billboard that for days urged voters to head to the polls on the wrong date.

The display shows the massive words "VOTE Tuesday November 6" across a white billboard near Interstate 75 on the city’s southwest side. It was left over from a Vote.org campaign tied to the Nov. 6, 2018, midterm elections, said Kamari Guthrie, communications director for the national group.

It was placed near Rouge River bridge at that time since the group had targeted “areas that traditionally have not received election messages,” she said.

This year, Metro Detroit voting takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Guthrie said the 2018 billboard's mistaken reappearance was related to a local vendor that works with AdQuick, the distribution service for the campaign.

“However, they affirmed it will be handled immediately,” she told The Detroit News.

In a statement to The News on Monday, AdQuick said the 2018 message “was mistakenly uncovered when a current advertiser was removed off of one billboard in the Detroit area last week. We identified the issue and immediately had the old Vote.org vinyl scheduled to be taken down and discarded for (Tuesday). We have also confirmed with vendors that this was an isolated incident.”

Officials at the Michigan Secretary of State, which oversees elections, also have informed Vote.org about the issue, spokesman Jake Rollow said.