Explaining the Conspiracy Theories About ‘Computers’ Stealing the Election for Joe Biden

Rounding up our fact checks from the last week.

The Dispatch Staff

Nov 15, 2020

Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the 2020 election, but Donald Trump has not conceded and his campaign is contesting the election results in the battleground states that he would need to flip to change the outcome.

Throughout Election Day and in the days that followed, The Dispatch Fact tracked and reported on a variety of false claims regarding the election: voters falsely claiming that poll workers gave them Sharpies to fill out their ballots in order to scuttle their votes; people asserting that Michigan “magically” found more than 138,000 votes that were all for Biden; others claiming that video depicted poll workers filling out empty ballots.

The most prevalent claims now, though, are centered around technology and the idea that Democrats are using computers and software to change Trump votes to Biden votes, or just eliminate Trump votes.

Members of the campaign legal team, high-profile Trump supporters, and even the president himself have elevated these claims, which are better described as conspiracy theories.

We’ve collected all of our fact checks on such claims here in one place.

Fact Check: Explaining the False Allegations About Dominion Voting Systems

Dominion Voting Systems is a company that provides vote-tabulating software to many counties and states. When a handful of states encountered delays or temporary tabulation errors on Election Night, claims started swirling that Dominion had “suspicious” ties to Democrats and that Democrats were using the software to steal the election for Joe Biden. Alec Dent breaks down a handful of claims and demonstrates why they are false.

Fact Check: More False Claims About Dominion Voting Systems

Social media users shared two maps from a Newsmax broadcast that purported to show that Dominion Voting Systems was used only in the battleground states that President Trump’s campaign is contesting. These maps are misleading because Dominion is used in 28 states and Puerto Rico, including in 10 states that Trump won.

Did Edison Research Find That States Deleted Trump Votes or Switched Votes to Biden?

And yet more false claims involving Dominion. In this one, the One America News Network ran a blatantly false report saying that Edison Research, which handles exit polling and vote reporting (but not tabulating) to media outlets, issued an “unaudited data analysis” showing that Dominion switched hundreds of thousands of Trump votes to Biden and deleted millions of Trump votes.

Fact Check: Debunking the Hammer and Scorecard Conspiracy Theory

This one’s a doozy. The theory goes that in 2012 the Obama administration commandeered a supercomputer and software system developed by the CIA and used it to steal that election. With Biden running, he used again. The rumor is being spread by Sidney Powell, a member of Trump’s legal team, as well as retired Air Force Lt. General Thomas McInerney and many people on social media. No, it’s not true. This conspiracy theory comes from a man named Dennis Montgomery, who claims to have designed and built the computer and developed the software. Not only does such a computer not exist, Montgomery has a colorful history of fraudulent claims.

Fact Check: Addressing Yet More Claims About Dominion Voting System

In a segment on his Fox News show Thursday night, Sean Hannity raised questions about Dominion Voting Systems and vote-counting issues in Georgia and Michigan. Problem is, he referred to an article about one of the company’s machines that is not in use in either of those states. And the vulnerability present in that machine “does not align with what Hannity or others have alleged happened in the 2020 election.”

Photograph by Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images.

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Judith HowellNov 15, 2020

How about you look a little deeper into Smartmatic, the software used by Dominion, especially in the battle ground states. And that the Chairman of the Board of Smartmatic is now on the transition team for Biden. And that Smartmatic has specific ties to Venezuela and has been central to some serious voter fraud allegations around the world.

Following the 2004 Venezuelan recall election, Smartmatic acquired Sequoia Voting Systems, one of the leading US companies in automated voting products[99][100] from the British company De La Rue in 2005.[90] Following this acquisition, U.S. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney requested an investigation to determine whether the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had followed correct processes to green-light sale of Sequoia to Smartmatic, which was described as having "possible ties to the Venezuelan government".[101] The request was made after a March 2006 following issues in Chicago and Cook County, where a percentage of the machines involved were manufactured by Sequoia, and Sequoia provided technical assistance, some by a number of Venezuelan nationals flown in for the event.[102] According to Sequoia, the tabulation problems were due to human error, as a post-election check identified only three mechanical problems in 1,000 machines checked[102] while election officials blamed poor training.[103] Other issues were suspected to be related to software errors linked to the voting system's central computer.[104]

Following the request, Smartmatic and Sequoia submitted a request to be reviewed by the CFIUS while also denying links to the Venezuelan government.[105] The company disclosed that it was owned by Antonio Mugica (78.8%), Alfredo Anzola (3.87%), Roger Pinate (8.47%), Jorge Massa Dustou (5.97%) and employees (2.89%).[106] Smartmatic subsequently sold Sequoia and later withdrew from Cook County in December 2006.[107]

The Wall Street Journal wrote that "Smartmatic scrapped a simple corporate structure" of being based in Boca Raton "for a far more complex arrangement" of being located in multiple locations following the Sequoia incident.[107] Though Smartmatic has made differing statements saying that they were either American or Dutch based, the United States Department of State stated that its Venezuelan owners "remain hidden behind a web of holding companies in the Netherlands and Barbados".[9][3] The New York Times states that "the role of the young Venezuelan engineers who founded Smartmatic has become less visible" and that its organization is "an elaborate web of offshore companies and foreign trusts",[104] while BBC News states that though Smartmatic says the company was founded in the United States, "its roots are firmly anchored in (Venezuela)".[3] Multiple sources simply state that Smartmatic is a Venezuelan company.[108] Smartmatic maintains that the holding companies in multiple countries are used for "tax efficiency".[109]

C'mon folks, do your homework.