Electronic voting machines should not be in use in U.S. elections due to their vulnerability to being hacked, Elon Musk said.
“We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high,” Musk remarked in response to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posting an article which related the news of hundreds of voting irregularities in Puerto Rico’s primary elections which were attributed to electronic voting machines supplied by the U.S. company Dominion Voting Systems.
WorldTribune.com reported on June 12 that Puerto Rico’s elections commission is reviewing its contract with Dominion after discovering that the machines were incorrectly calculating vote totals. Machine-reported vote counters were revealed to have been lower than the actual paper ballots. Machines also reversed certain totals and reported zero votes for candidates.
“The concern is that we obviously have elections in November, and we must provide the (island) not only with the assurance that the machine produces a correct result, but also that the result it produces is the same one that is reported,” said Puerto Rico elections commission interim president Jessika Padilla.
Puerto Rico had a paper ballot trail for its June 2 primary election, which allowed the issue to be identified and corrected.
Kennedy raised concerns about "What happens in jurisdictions where there is no paper trail. U.S. citizens need to know that every one of their votes were counted, and that their elections cannot be hacked. We need to return to paper ballots to avoid electronic interference with elections."
While no one has yet contested the results from the June 2 primary, machine-reported vote counts were lower than the paper ones in some cases, and some machines reversed certain totals or reported zero votes for some candidates, Puerto Rico election officials said.
Former Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington wrote on social media: "Sure, some candidates got zero votes, the machines undercounted the paper ballots, and 'certain totals' were reversed, but no one is questioning the outcome! We would have to be insane to use these voting systems in November."
Puerto Rico election officials reported 121 cases at polling stations in which the total number of votes reported was zero, of which 91 corresponded to PNP polling stations and 30 to the PPD, for which the company was requested to issue a report on all the results.
In addition, PRITS (Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service) was ordered to assist in the investigation to find out “exactly the error.”
Independent journalist Emerald Robinson noted: "Did you catch that important detail? They’re admitting that 121 polling stations reported zero votes for the primaries! That’s the sort of spectacular failure that’s difficult to hide.
"Meanwhile, back in the Banana Republic of Biden (formerly called the United States of America) the lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems are still preparing to litigate defamation suits against media outlets that reported on these issues in 2020," Robinson added. "In fact, my personal attorney has notified me that Dominion’s lawyers wish to depose me this summer for their case against Newsmax.
"How can a company whose products don’t work actually sue news outlets for reporting that their products don’t work?
"Don’t worry: I will call Dominion Voting Systems and ask them to explain why their machines just wrecked free elections in Puerto Rico."
Lara Trump, the new co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), vowed on Friday to prosecute anyone caught cheating in November’s presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law made the promise at Turning Point USA’s convention in Detroit after announcing that the RNC would be launching an initiative to train and mobilize thousands of election workers across the country.
“We are also sending a loud and clear message out there to anyone who thinks about cheating in an election,” she said. “If you cheat in an election, we will find you, we will track you down and we will prosecute you to the full extent of the law.”
We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high. https://t.co/PHzJsoXpLh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2024
