How to avoid the scam
Cox says that federal officials and most state officials won't send you e-mails or call you about your voter registration. "If there is face-to-face contact, that's normally in the form of them offering you a voter registration form that you can fill out on your own and send in on your own or take with you to the particular polling place," he says.

Depending on the state you live in, you may have to provide your Social Security number or part of it on the voter registration form. Don't offer more information than the law requires you to give. Check the instructions for your state on this national voter registration form provided by the United States Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan commission established by the Help America Vote Act.

Never provide your credit card or bank account information, not even to confirm your identity.

"There is not a state in the union that requires financial information to register to vote," says Cox.

The safest way to register to vote is to seek out, fill out and turn in the form yourself. To register to vote, go to www.eac.gov/voter or contact your local election commission for instructions and deadlines.

If information you provide on the form is incomplete or incorrect, the state will follow up if there's enough time before an election, says Rodriguez.

She says that typically, follow-up will be done via postal mail or phone. The difference between legitimate contact and a scam comes down to what the voter is asked to do. "Generally the practice is to ask the voter to resubmit a form or to come in and correct it," says Rodriguez. "If information is requested over the phone, it shouldn't be given."

If following up about the form via mail, "usually they're mailing it back with the instructions on what to resubmit," she says.

Where to report a scam: