Fact check: Video draws on past conspiracy theory over U.S. Election software

Social media users have shared a video detailing a conspiracy theories about the 2020 U.S. presidential election and the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.

A Periscope live shared on social media, generating thousands of shares, features the speaker claiming that she is spreading “the truth” about election fraud. This article will assess the primary claim, but it is outside the scope of the check to address all the various opinions and statements made.

The woman in the clips claims: “The election fraud occurred… The have the data, they just need the President to declassify Hammer and Scorecard” (here, 0:20).

This references a conspiracy theory of electoral fraud, already debunked, that arose in November 2020 following the U.S. presidential election which saw Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump.

Sidney Powell,  the attorney representing former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, referred to “the Hammer program and a software program called Scorecard” in a TV interview after the election. Powell claimed the programs were used to change “pre-election voting ballots that were collected digitally.” (here).

On Nov. 7, 2020, Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),  described the claim of an alleged “election hacking and vote manipulation operation” (here) as “disinfo”. CISA is the federal agency responsible for protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber threats (www.cisa.gov/about-cisa) . Created in 2018, it operates within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In a tweet (here) , Krebs specified he was referring to the Hammer and Scorecard claim, describing it as “nonsense.”

The president fired Krebs as head of the Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Agency on Nov. 17, accusing him on Twitter of making a “highly inaccurate” statement that the election was secure.

Further fact-checks debunking the Hammer and Scorecard theory can be seen here , here , here and here .

The speaker in the video goes on to allege that voting machines used in the U.S. election were “compromised” and that software had been sold by the Chinese so that they could manipulate the outcome.

However, state and federal judges — some appointed by Trump — have dismissed more than 50 lawsuits brought by Trump or his allies alleging election fraud and other irregularities.

Independent experts, governors and state election officials from both parties say there has been no evidence of widespread fraud.

VERDICT

False. The claims around “Hammer and Scorecard” and mass manipulation of voting machines lack any credible evidence.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .  

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