The Alabama Secretary of State's office said today it has learned that some voters are receiving erroneous messages telling them that they are not registered to vote when, in fact, they are registered.

Two organizations that are contacting voters said they are not sending erroneous message.

Secretary of State John Merrill's office sent out a press release about the erroneous messages today. Some erroneous messages are coming from people who claim to be members of the NAACP and of Open Progress, the secretary of state's office said.

The Alabama NAACP said in a press release today that it used a database from the Voter Action Network System to notify voters that it believed were not registered.

Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP, said the organization apologized if registered voters were contacted, but said the effort was intended to remind voters to make sure they are registered.

Today is the last day to register to vote for the Dec. 12 special election for the U.S. Senate between Democratic nominee Doug Jones and Republican nominee Roy Moore.

Voters can go here to verify if they are registered.

Voters can go here to find their polling place.

Voters can register in county registrars offices, generally open until 5 p.m., or online until 11:59 p.m. Go here to register online or update your voter registration if you have moved.

The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Dec. 7. The deadline to return an absentee ballot is Dec. 11.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 12.

Alabama's new law banning crossover voting does not apply to the Dec. 12 election. The law only applies to party runoffs.

Elizabeth Haynes, co-founder of Open Progress, released on open letter to Merrill today in response to Merrill's press release saying that the organization was sending voters erroneous messages, saying the press release was "false and reckless."

"In fact, Open Progress has done nothing but promote access to the polls in the upcoming special election by helping voters use the tools available on your website to determine their

registration status, and encouraging them to submit new voter registration

applications if necessary to update their address or re-activate their registration status," Haynes wrote.

Haynes wrote that the secretary of state's office caused confusion by placing more than 340,000 voters on inactive status this year.

The secretary of state's office sent non-forwardable post cards to registered voters earlier this year to update voter rolls. If the post cards were returned as undeliverable, the secretary of state's office sent a forwardable post card to the same address asking voters to update their registration.

If the state did not receive a reply to the second card, the secretary of state's office placed the voter was on "inactive" status after 90 days.

Voters who learn they are on "inactive" status when they arrive at the polls can still vote if they update their voter registration at the polls.

If that voter's information has not changed, he or she should be able to vote as usual, the secretary of state's office told AL.com in August. If the voter has moved, or their polling place has for some reason changed, a poll worker should be able to direct that voter to their correct polling place where they can update their information and cast a provisional ballot. For a provisional ballot to be counted, however, it must be cast at the correct polling place.

This story was updated at 4:46 p.m. to add statement from Alabama NAACP. Updated at 6:28 p.m. to add statement from Open Progress. Updated at 6:35 p.m. to change headline.

