Elon Musk And Marjorie Taylor Greene Rehash Debunked Dominion Vote-Stealing Conspiracy
Topline
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., this week pushed theories about Dominion Voting Systems, the vote-counting machines widely used in U.S. elections, threatening to revive the conspiracies spread by Donald Trump and his allies in 2020 that sowed chaos—and were repeatedly debunked.
Key Facts
Musk, who has ramped up his verbal and financial support of Trump in the leadup to the election, referred to the conspiracy theory during a town hall in Philadelphia that Dominion rigged the election in favor of Democrats, saying it was “weird” and a “heck of a coincidence” that Dominion machines were used in Philadelphia and Arizona’s Maricopa County but “not in a lot of other places.”
However, Dominion does not have machines in Philadelphia, as the company pointed out on its site, but is located throughout the country in other states (including Maricopa County).
The Tesla chief also said the last thing he would do is “trust a computer program” to count votes, proposing strictly hand-counted paper ballots for elections—a suggestion also made by Trump despite 98% of voters residing in places with fully auditable paper trails, according to CNN.
Greene alleged in an InfoWars interview Thursday a Georgia voter’s ballot had a vote flipped by a Dominion machine, citing a Whitfield County Board of Elections Facebook post that said the “issue was quickly resolved while the voter was still on-site.”
Whitfield County Board of Elections followed up, clarifying: “There have been no issues reported with the Whitfield County voting machines,” and seemed to suggest the voter may have made an incorrect choice, but was allowed to change it after realizing the mistake.
Dominion said in a statement Saturday it is monitoring claims around the upcoming election and is “fully prepared to defend” itself and its customers against false claims.
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Big Number
$900 million. That is how much money Congress has directed toward election security in the U.S., providing funds for updated voting systems, cybersecurity defenses and cybersecurity staff, the Associated Press reported.
News Peg
Trump pushed the conspiracy theory accusing Dominion of deleting and flipping votes as part of a larger effort to overturn the 2020 election. The former president faces four felony counts including conspiracy to defraud and obstruction. Skepticism of U.S. voting systems and measures has underscored Trump’s presidential campaign, as he has repeatedly doubted the legitimacy of the 2020 election results and stoked fears of election fraud in the upcoming election. Public officials, studies and researchers have found voter fraud is “very rare” and that the last election was “the most secure in American history.”
Key Background
The conspiracy theory about Dominion was also spread by top Trump allies such as right-wing attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as Fox News, which settled a major defamation lawsuit from Dominion for $787.5 million in 2023. Dominion accused Fox of pushing the election fraud claims despite knowing they were false. Giuliani and Powell were also subpoenaed in the lawsuit. Fox did not apologize after the settlement, though it did “acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.” Smartmatic, another electronic voting company, recently settled a similar case with conservative news outlet Newsmax. Terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, though an attorney for Smartmatic revealed in court Smartmatic sought to assert lost revenue opportunities valued at $369.8 million, according to the Associated Press.
Further Reading
Trump Vows ‘Long Term Prison Sentences’ For Election ‘Cheating’—Despite No Evidence Of Major Fraud (Forbes)
