Difference between revisions of "Dominion Voting Systems"
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In the 2016 Utah Republican caucus, where [[Utah]] Republicans voted to choose the party’s nominee for president in the [[2016 Presidential election]], the voters had the opportunity to vote using traditional methods or to vote online. For online voting, the Utah Republican Party used an internet voting system developed by the Smartmatic-Cybernetica Internet Voting Centre of Excellence, based in [[Estonia]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://estonianworld.com/technology/estonian-i-voting-software-used-in-utah-republican-caucus/|title=Estonian internet voting software used in Utah Republican caucus|date=2016-04-14|newspaper=Estonian World|language=en-US|access-date}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://e-estonia.com/estonian-e-solutions-everywhere/|title=Estonian E-solutions Everywhere - e-Estonia|website=e-estonia.com|access-date=|date=2016-05-23}}</ref> | In the 2016 Utah Republican caucus, where [[Utah]] Republicans voted to choose the party’s nominee for president in the [[2016 Presidential election]], the voters had the opportunity to vote using traditional methods or to vote online. For online voting, the Utah Republican Party used an internet voting system developed by the Smartmatic-Cybernetica Internet Voting Centre of Excellence, based in [[Estonia]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=http://estonianworld.com/technology/estonian-i-voting-software-used-in-utah-republican-caucus/|title=Estonian internet voting software used in Utah Republican caucus|date=2016-04-14|newspaper=Estonian World|language=en-US|access-date}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://e-estonia.com/estonian-e-solutions-everywhere/|title=Estonian E-solutions Everywhere - e-Estonia|website=e-estonia.com|access-date=|date=2016-05-23}}</ref> | ||
| − | Despite warnings from security experts,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lapowsky|first1=Issie|title=Utah's Online Caucus Gives Security Experts Heart Attacks|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/03/security-experts-arent-going-like-utahs-online-primary/|accessdate=|work=WIRED|date=21 March 2016}}</ref> Utah Republican Party officials billed the online voting system, for which the state paid $150,000. Multiple issues occurred with the system, with voters receiving error messages and even being blocked from voting. Smartmatic received thousands of calls from Utah voters surrounding issues with the process. ''The Washington Post'' states that "the concern seems to be less with the technology and more with the security of the devices people use to vote".<ref name=":2">{{cite news|last1=Phillips|first1=Amber|title=Utah Republicans are holding a first-ever online presidential primary. And it's not going so well.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/22/utah-republicans-are-holding-a-first-ever-online-primary-and-its-not-going-so-well/|accessdate=|work=[[The Washington Post]]|date=22 March 2016}}</ref> According to Joe Kiniry, the lead researcher of Galois, a technology research firm: | + | Despite warnings from security experts,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lapowsky|first1=Issie|title=Utah's Online Caucus Gives Security Experts Heart Attacks|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/03/security-experts-arent-going-like-utahs-online-primary/|accessdate=|work=WIRED|date=21 March 2016}}</ref> Utah Republican Party officials billed the online voting system, for which the state paid $150,000. Multiple issues occurred with the system, with voters receiving error messages and even being blocked from voting. Smartmatic received thousands of calls from Utah voters surrounding issues with the process. ''The Washington Post'' states that "the concern seems to be less with the technology and more with the security of the devices people use to vote".<ref name=":2">{{cite news|last1=Phillips|first1=Amber|title=Utah Republicans are holding a first-ever online presidential primary. And it's not going so well.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/22/utah-republicans-are-holding-a-first-ever-online-primary-and-its-not-going-so-well/|accessdate=|work=[[The Washington Post]]|date=22 March 2016}}</ref> According to Joe Kiniry, the lead researcher of Galois, a technology research firm: |
| + | {{quotebox|Several of us did a lightweight analysis of it remotely, to see how it was built and deployed and this sort of thing ... we found that they were using technologies that even modern Web programmers stay away from. ... It’s like the dumbest possible choices are being made by some of these companies with respect to deployed technology that should be mission-critical!}} | ||
| + | |||
====Philippines==== | ====Philippines==== | ||
Smartmatic has been criticized by various entities for its motives and handling of elections in the Philippines.<ref name="IBONsmart">{{cite web|title=Automated Polls: Privatized elections, foreign-controlled democracy (Part 2)|url=http://ibon.org/2016/05/automated-polls-privatized-elections-foreign-controlled-democracy/|website=[[IBON Foundation]]|accessdate=}}</ref> In opinion polls, voters have approved of Smartmatic's automated system used by Comelec, with 84% of respondents stating that they had "big trust" in the automated process according to a June 2019 Pulse Asia Research poll.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2019/237275-filipinos-trust-results-elections-2019-pulse-asia-survey|title=Most Filipinos express 'big trust' in results of 2019 elections – Pulse Asia|last=Tomacruz|first=Sofia|website=[[Rappler]]|language=en|access-date=2019-08-30}}</ref> | Smartmatic has been criticized by various entities for its motives and handling of elections in the Philippines.<ref name="IBONsmart">{{cite web|title=Automated Polls: Privatized elections, foreign-controlled democracy (Part 2)|url=http://ibon.org/2016/05/automated-polls-privatized-elections-foreign-controlled-democracy/|website=[[IBON Foundation]]|accessdate=}}</ref> In opinion polls, voters have approved of Smartmatic's automated system used by Comelec, with 84% of respondents stating that they had "big trust" in the automated process according to a June 2019 Pulse Asia Research poll.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2019/237275-filipinos-trust-results-elections-2019-pulse-asia-survey|title=Most Filipinos express 'big trust' in results of 2019 elections – Pulse Asia|last=Tomacruz|first=Sofia|website=[[Rappler]]|language=en|access-date=2019-08-30}}</ref> | ||
Revision as of 21:08, November 20, 2020
Dominion Voting Systems is a Canadian company that sells voting hardware and software manufactured with Chinese components.[2] Dominion was founded in 2004 in Venezuela to rig elections for the dictator Hugo Chavez and later Nicolas Maduro. The software has been used by the CIA to rig elections in Eastern Europe. Its parent company is SmartMatic. Retired Admiral Peter Neffenger, who is on Joe Biden's alleged transition team, is on the board of directors of SmartMatic.[3]
All Dominion machines include a “weighted race feature” whose only purpose is cheat in elections.[4] For example, the machine can be set to count a vote for Donald Trump as 0.7 of a vote while counting a vote for Joe Biden as 1.25 of a vote.
As of 2020, the equipment is used in 30 states in the United States. In the 2020 Presidential election, Dominion Voting Systems deleted 2.7 million votes for incumbent President Donald Trump nationwide. Data analysis found the voting systems switched 221,000 votes in Pennsylvania from President Trump to his rival, Democrat challenge former Vice President Joe Biden. 941,000 Trump votes for President Trump were deleted. Other states using Dominion switched 435,000 votes from President Trump to Joe Biden.[5]
Dominion was rejected by the Texas Secretary of State for use in elections in 2013 and 2019 over a plethora of issues which led to its failure of basic tests for reliability and accuracy. Per a comprehensive report from 2019, the Texas Attorney General's office recommended that “certification should be denied.”[6]
Contents
Election rigging
PBS NewsHour reported on the problems with Dominion Voting Systems one week before the 2020 Presidential election.[7]
After allegations emerged that called into question the integrity of voting machines produced by Dominion Voting Systems, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)—part of the Department of Homeland Security—issued a statement on November 12, 2020 disputing the allegations, saying “the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” What the agency failed to disclose, however, is that Dominion Voting Systems is a member of CISA’s Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council, one of two entities that authored the statement put out by CISA.[8]
Within two weeks after Election Day 2020 when the vote rigging and election fraud was exposed, 100 of 234 Dominion employees deleted their LinkedIn profiles.[9]
Personnel
In 2016 Dominion Voting Systems’ Vice President of Engineering Eric Coomer was asked if it was possible to bypass election systems software and go directly to the data tables that manage systems running elections in Illinois. His response was, “Yes, if they have access.”[10]
Bypassing the election systems software means whoever has access can potentially manipulate the vote without many risks of detection. Coomer was asked who would have access to these data tables? Coomer replied, "Vendors, election officials, and others who need to be granted access."[11]
Coomer is a member of Antifa. On a conference call with other members Coomer is reported to have said:
“Don’t worry about the election, Trump’s not gonna win. I made f**king sure of that!”[12]
Coomer posted on Facebook on July 21, 2016:
"If you are planning to vote for the autocratic, narcissistic, fascists, ass-hat blowhard and his Christian jihadist VP pic, UNFRIEND ME NOW!No, I’m not joking.
I’m all for reasoned political discourse and healthy debate- I’m looking at you [3 names of friends].
I disagree with you three on many philosophical grounds but respect your opinions.
Only and absolute F**KING IDIOT could ever vote for that wind-bag f**k-tard FASCIST RACIST F**K!
No bulls**t, I don’t give a damn if you’re friend, family, or random acquaintance, pull the lever, mark an oval, touch a screen for that carnival barker—UNFRIEND ME NOW.
I have no desire whatsoever to ever interact with you.
You are beyond hope, beyond reason. you are controlled by fear, reaction, and bulls**t. Get your s**t together.
Oh, it that doesn’t persuade you, F**K YOU! Seriously, this f**king ass-clown stands against everything that makes this country awesome!
You want in on that? You deserve nothing but contempt.?
Coomer then appears to have second thoughts about covering his tracks, and edits his post to include a disclaimer:
"These opinions are rational and completely my own.They are based in reason and highly credible.
Though they are not necessarily the thoughts of my employer, though if not, I should probably find another job.
Who wants to work for complete morons?
None of my personal opinions affect my professional conduct or attitudes.
I am non-partisan.
2020 Presidential election
"Gwinnett County, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, has faced a day-long delay in reporting a crucial batch of votes due to a technical problem as the presidential race in the state hangs in the balance.At around 5 p.m. ET Friday [Novemeber 6, 2020], Gwinnett County was finally able to upload about 4,000 outstanding absentee-by-mail ballots, as well as re-run roughly 460 early voting ballots that had to be transferred from a "bad data card," Gwinnett County spokesperson Joe Sorensen told CNN.
Originally, the county had hoped to upload these results at 8 a.m. ET; however, there was a technical issue with the Dominion system used to upload to the Georgia Secretary of State's office, Sorenson said. Gwinnett County says the blame for the delay falls solely on Dominion Voting Systems."
Two Georgia counties had to extend their voting deadlines to accommodate for delays produced by a last-minute software update. This was called “unprecedented” by local election officials. According to Politico:
"Voters were unable to cast machine ballots for a couple of hours in Morgan and Spalding counties after the electronic devices crashed, state officials said. In response to the delays, Superior Court Judge W. Fletcher Sams extended voting until 11 p.m. The counties use voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems and electronic poll books — used to sign in voters — made by KnowInk.The companies “uploaded something last night, which is not normal, and it caused a glitch,” said Marcia Ridley, elections supervisor at Spalding County Board of Election. That glitch prevented pollworkers from using the pollbooks to program smart cards that the voters insert into the voting machines.
Ridley said that a representative from the two companies called her after poll workers began having problems with the equipment Tuesday morning and said the problem was due to an upload to the machines by one of their technicians overnight."[14]
A supposed 'glitch' in software used to tabulate ballots in Antrim County, Michigan caused Republican votes to be counted as Democrat. The switch was first reported by a county clerk. A short investigation revealed that 47 counties in Michigan also suffered from a similar alleged 'glitch' with the same software, which caused some red counties to rake in a higher number of Democrat votes than usual. State GOP chair Laura Cox reported,[15]
“Antrim County had to hand count all of the ballots, and these counties that use the software need to closely examine their results for similar discrepancies. The people of Michigan deserve a transparent and open process.”
Another example was uncovered in Oakland County, Michigan where again a Republican won his race as a result of the alleged 'glitch' being reversed.
It was soon discovered the Dominion Voting System is used in 28 states. In Pennsylvania a ‘glitch’ was uncovered where nearly 20,000 votes were moved from President Trump to Biden.[16] In Wisconsin 10,000 votes were moved from President Trump to Biden in Rock County.[17][18]
2020 Georgia primary
Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger announced the state’s purchase of a $106 million election system from Dominion Voting Systems in July 2019. In a lawsuit, which originated in 2017, critics contend that the new system was subject to many of the same security vulnerabilities as the one it was replacing.
In an October 11, 2020 order, just weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg agreed with the concerns associated with the new Dominion voting system, writing that the case presented “serious system security vulnerability and operational issues that may place Plaintiffs and other voters at risk of deprivation of their fundamental right to cast an effective vote that is accurately counted.”
“The Court’s Order has delved deep into the true risks posed by the new BMD voting system as well as its manner of implementation. These risks are neither hypothetical nor remote under the current circumstances,” Judge Totenberg wrote in her order.
Jeff Carlson of The Epoch Times reported the findings of Harri Hursti, an acknowledged expert on electronic voting security. Hursti provided a first-hand description of problems during the June 9, 2020 statewide primary election and runoff elections on August 11, 2020. Hursti summarized his findings:
- “The scanner and tabulation software settings being employed to determine which votes to count on hand marked paper ballots are likely causing clearly intentioned votes not to be counted”
- “The voting system is being operated in Fulton County in a manner that escalates the security risk to an extreme level.”
- “Voters are not reviewing their BMD [Ballot Marking Devices] printed ballots, which causes BMD generated results to be un-auditable due to the untrustworthy audit trail.”
During the runoff elections, on the night of August 11, 2020, Hursti was present at the Fulton County Election Preparation Center to observe the “upload of the memory devices coming in from the precincts to the Dominion Election Management System [EMS] server.” During this observation, Hursti noted that “system problems were recurring and the Dominion technicians operating the system were struggling with the upload process.”
Hursti also noted that it appeared that Dominion personnel were the only ones with knowledge of, and access to, the Dominion server. As Hursti stated in his declaration, “In my conversations with Derrick Gilstrap and other Fulton County Elections Department EPC personnel, they professed to have limited knowledge of or control over the EMS server and its operations.”
Hursti noted that this wholesale outsourcing of the operation of voting equipment to the vendor’s personnel was “highly unusual in my experience and of grave concern from a security and conflict of interest perspective.” Hursti referred to Dominion’s onsite operation and access as “an elevated risk factor.”
Hursti also noted that the Dell computers running the Dominion server appeared not to have been “hardened”—the process of “securing a system by reducing its surface of vulnerability.” Hursti said that he found it “unacceptable for an EMS server not to have been hardened prior to installation.”
Hursti observed that computers used in Georgia’s system for vote processing appeared to have “home/small business companion software packages” on them. This raised areas of significant concern for Hursti as he noted: “[O]ne of the first procedures of hardening is removal of all unwanted software, and removal of those game icons and the associated games and installers alongside with all other software which is not absolutely needed in the computer for election processing purposes would be one of the first and most basic steps in the hardening process. In my professional opinion, independent inquiry should be promptly made of all 159 counties to determine if the Dominion systems statewide share this major deficiency.”
Hursti discovered that one of the computers had an icon for a 2017 computer game called “Homescapes” which Hursti noted called into question whether “all Georgia Dominion system computers have the same operating system version, or how the game has come to be having a presence in Fulton’s Dominion voting system.”
Hursti also found a troubling blend of old and new equipment which carried additional security risks due to a lack of patch updates: “Although this Dominion voting system is new to Georgia, the Windows 10 operating system of at least the ‘main’ computer in the rack has not been updated for 4 years and carries a wide range of well-known and publicly disclosed vulnerabilities.”
Hursti noted that the lack of “hardening” created security risks even for computers that were not connected to the internet. He observed that when flash drives were connected to the server, the “media was automounted by the operating system. When the operating system is automounting a storage media, the operating system starts automatically to interact with the device.”
Hursti noted that the management of Fulton County’s EMS server appeared to be an “ad hoc operation with no formalized process.” This seemed particularly apparent in relation to the process of storage media coming in from various precincts throughout the night: “This kind of operation i[s] naturally prone to human errors. I observed personnel calling on the floor asking if all vote carrying compact flash cards had been delivered from the early voting machines for processing, followed by later finding additional cards which had been overlooked in apparent human error. Later, I heard again one technician calling on the floor asking if all vote carrying compact flashes had been delivered. This clearly demonstrates lack of inventory management which should be in place to ensure, among other things, that no rogue storage devices would be inserted into the computer. In response, 3 more compact flash cards were hand-delivered. Less than 5 minutes later, I heard one of the county workers say that additional card was found and was delivered for processing. All these devices were trusted by printed label only and no comparison to an inventory list of any kind was performed.”
Hursti also observed that “operations were repeatedly performed directly on the operating system.” The election software has no visibility into the operations of the operating system, which creates additional auditing problems, and as Hursti noted, “Unless the system is configured properly to collect file system auditing data is not complete. As the system appears not to be hardened, it is unlikely that the operating system has been configured to collect auditing data.”
Raising even greater concerns was the apparent “complete access” that Dominion personnel appeared to have into the computer system. Hursti observed Dominion technicians troubleshooting error messages with a “trial-and-error” approach which included access into the “Computer Management” application, indicating complete access in Hursti’s opinion.
As he stated in his declaration, “This means there are no meaningful access separation and privileges and roles controls protecting the county’s primary election servers. This also greatly amplifies the risk of catastrophic human error and malicious program execution.”
During these attempts to resolve the various issues that were occurring in real-time, Hursti noted that it appeared as though Dominion staff shifted from on-site attempts at remediation to off-site troubleshooting:
| “The Dominion staff member walked behind the server rack and made manual manipulations which could not be observed from my vantage point. After that they moved with their personal laptops to a table physically farther away from the election system and stopped trying different ways to work around the issue in front of the server, and no longer talked continuously with their remote help over phone.
In the follow-up-calls I overheard them ask people on the other end of the call to check different things, and they only went to a computer and appeared to test something and subsequently take a picture of the computer screen with a mobile phone and apparently send it to a remote location.” Hursti stated that this “created a strong mental impression that the troubleshooting effort was being done remotely over remote access to key parts of the system.” |
Hursti also noted that a “new wireless access point with a hidden SSID access point name appeared in the active Wi-Fi stations list” that he was monitoring.
All of this raised material alarms for Hursti, who noted that
| “If in fact remote access was arranged and granted to the server, this has gravely serious implications for the security of the new Dominion system. Remote access, regardless how it is protected and organized is always a security risk, but furthermore it is transfer of control out of the physical perimeters and deny any ability to observe the activities.”[19] |
Statistical analysis
Analysis of November 3, 2020 election night data from all states showed that millions of votes were either switched from President Trump to Koe Biden or were lost using Dominion and other systems. Researchers compiled a full list of votes switched from Trump to Biden or votes erased by Dominion, the vote machines used in many states across the US. Data captured by the New York Times on election night was used.
An examination of the data was able to locate an instance where votes were switched from Trump to Biden, so analysis on the entire data set ws performed, starting with the states where Dominion voting machines are used. The data is from Edison Research and it is the same data that is used for election coverage by ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News. It is also used for the website of the New Yorh Times others as well.
Based on this initial analysis over 500,000 votes were identified that were switched from President Trump to Joe Biden. Some votes wee switched from 3rd party candidates to Biden as well. In addition, another 2,865,757 votes were deleted.
The problem is in voting machines. Federal law requires records of federal elections be kept for 22 months. When a paper ballot is inserted into a tabulator, the tabulator scans the paper ballot and takes a picture. This is called a ballot image, which becomes the official ballot. Many Democrat states and jurisdictions destroy the paper ballot afterword. In one state, Massachusetts, they destroy the ballot image immediately afterward, as well.
In states and jurisdictions with touch screens, the ballot image is the only official record. All these ballot images from tabulators and touch screens are stored on microchip.
Electronic voting systems are used for the convenience of the vote counters, not the voters. Paper ballots are the only (less) foolproof method.
In Michigan, for example, sworn affidavits claim paper ballots were run through tabulators several times;[20] and so the paper ballots do not even have a barcode to nullify the ballot once its been counted. Even grocery stores can detect with the barcode whether an item has been paid for or not.
Dr. V. A. Shiva of MIT, the inventor of email, did another statistical analysis of voting integrity in Michigan during a video livestream presentation.[21] Dr. Shyiva demonstrated statistically how an algorithm took about 60,000 votes away from President Trump and gave them to Joe Biden in Oakland County, Michigan during the course of election day. He demonstrated the same pattern in Macomb County.
The slope of linear decline of Trump votes hour-by-hour in Oakland, Macomb, and Kent County, Michigan, was the same in predominantly Republican precincts. The public data reveal algorithm-manipulated tampering to transfer Trump votes from Republicans to Biden.
"The United States voting systems, the inputs and the outputs, are unverifiable," says Dr. Shiva, as many jurisdictions don't verify if a real person legally voted (no voter ID), and if the real votes were indeed tabulated truthfully (ballots or images are not preserved).
In violation of federal law concerning candidates for federal office, Massachusetts destroys ballots and images on election day, Dr. Shiva says. Shiva says he was banned from Twitter for saying this, even though he had it confirmed by the Massachusetts secretary of state.
Dominion voting systems is set up to make it easy to change & delete results. A Resistance member with administrator access in a warehouse full of machines can enter whatever result, and delete previous results.[22][23]
Lobbyists and political donations
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reveal the company is overwhelmingly staffed by Democrat donors.[24] 96% of Dominion Voting political donations went to Democrats. From 2014 to 2020, nine individuals who list “Dominion Voting” or “Dominion Voting Systems” as their employer contributed money to national political campaigns, including the 2020 presidential election. Employees positions span the entirety of the voting system’s process from set-up to tabulation, including software developers, network engineers, software production specialists, and implementation managers. Virtually all donations went to Democratic candidates through ActBlue.
Dominion has employed a host of Democratic party-linked lobbyists to assist on issues including “monitor[ing] federal legislation” and “issues related to election security.”[25] Bloomberg reported in April of last year [2019] that Dominion Voting Systems — which commands more than a third of the voting-machine market without having Washington lobbyists — has hired its first, a high-powered firm that includes a longtime aide to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They hired Brownstein Farber Hyatt & Schreck. Nadeam Elshami, Pelosi’s former chief of staff, is one of the lobbyists on the account.[26] Dominion also employs Brian McKeon. According to The Washington Post,
"…McKeon previously worked as a senior aide to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and was a deputy director for voter protection for Obama for America, helping oversee the effort to recruit and organize attorneys to be poll watchers in the 2012 election."[27]
In 2014, Dominion was listed in the Washington Post table as having donated between $25,001-$50,000 to the Clinton Foundation.[28] Richard Blum, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s husband, is a significant shareholder in the company.[29]
Complaints
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), along with Rep. Mark Pocan (Wisc.), wrote a joint letter to Dominion in December 2019 warning that use of the company’s voting machines resulted in “switching votes” and other “undisclosed vulnerabilities” that “threaten the integrity of our elections.”
“In 2018 alone,” the letter reads, referring to the midterm elections, “voters in South Carolina [were] reporting machines that switched their votes after they’d inputted them, scanners [were] rejecting paper ballots in Missouri, and busted machines [were] causing long lines in Indiana.”
“In addition, researchers recently uncovered previously undisclosed vulnerabilities in ‘nearly three dozen backend election systems in 10 states.’ And, just this year, after the Democratic candidate’s electronic tally showed he received 164 votes out of 55,000 cast in a Pennsylvania state judicial election in 2019, the county’s Republican chairwoman said, ‘nothing went right on Election Day. Everything went wrong. That’s a problem.’”[30]
Whistleblower allegations
Melissa Carone was a contractor for Dominion Voting Systems to do IT work at the TCF Center in Detroit. Carone gave an interview to Redpill78 on Twitch.[31] Carone states in a sworn affidavit that she “witnessed nothing but fraudulent actions take place”. Carone testified,[32]
| 1. My name is Mellissa A. Carone, I was contracted by Dominion Voting Services to do IT work at the TCF Center for the November 3, 2020 election, and I am a resident of Wayne County.
2. I arrived at the TCF Center at approximately 6: 15 AM November 3, 2020 and worked until 4:00 AM November 4, 2020. I went home to get some sleep, then arrived back at the TCF Center at I 0:00 AM in which I stayed until 1 :45 PM. During this time I witnessed nothing but fraudulent actions take place. 3. The counters (which were trained very little or not at all), were handed a "batch" (stack of 50) of mail-in ballots in which they would run through the tabulator. The tabulators would get jammed 4-5 times an hour, when they jammed the computer would put out an error that tells the worker the ballot number that was jammed and gives an option to either discard the batch or continue scanning at which the counter should discard the batch, put the issue ballot on top of the batch and rescan the entire batch. I witnessed countless workers rescanning the batches without discarding them first which resulted in ballots being counted 4-5 times. 4. At approximately midnight I was called over to assist one of the counters with a paper jam and noticed his PC had a number of over 400 ballots scanned- which means one batch was counted over 8 times. This happened countless times while I was at the TCF Center. I confronted my manager, Nick Ikonornakis saying how big of a problem this was, Nick told me he didn't want to hear that we have a big problem. He told me we are here to do assist with IT work, not to run their election. 5. The adjudication process, from my understanding there's supposed to be a republican and a democrat judging these ballots. I overheard numerous workers talking during shift change in which over 20 machines had two democrats judging the ballots-resulting in an unfair process. 6. Next, I want to describe what went on during shift change, it was a chaotic disaster. It took over two hours for workers to arrive at their "assigned areas", over 30 workers were taken upstairs and told they didn't have a job for them to do. These people were chosen to be counters, in which 6 workers admitted to me that they received absolutely no training at all. 7. The night shift workers were free to come and go as they pleased, they could go out and smoke from the counting room. This is illegal, as there were boxes and stacks of ballots everywhere, anyone could have taken some out or brought some in, and No one was watching them. 8. There was two vans that pulled into the garage of the counting room, one on day shift and one on night shift. These vans were apparently bringing food into the building because they only had enough food for not even 1/3 of the workers. I never saw any food corning out of these vans, coincidently it was announced on the news that Michigan had discovered over 100,000 more ballots- not even two hours after the last van left. 9. When a worker had a ballot that they either could not read, or it had something spilled on it, they would go to a table that had blank ballots on it and fill it out. They were supposed to be filling them out exactly like the one they had received but this was not the case at all. The workers would also sign the name of the person that the ballot belonged to-which is clearly illegal. 10. Samuel Challandes and one more young man in his mid-20 were responsible for submitting the numbers into the main computer. They had absolutely no overhead, my manager Nick would assist them with any questions but Nick was on the floor assisting with IT most of the time. 11 . There was a time I overheard Samuel talking to Nick about losing tons of data, they all got on their phones and stepped to the side of the stage. I asked Nick what was going one and he told me it was all taken care of and not to worry about it. I fully believe that this was something very crucial that they just covered up. 12. I was the only republican working for Dominion Voting, and on the stage there was many terrible comments being made by the city workers and Dominion workers about republicans. I did not give out any indication that I was a republican, I have a family at home and knew I was going to have to walk to my car at the end of my shift. If anyone had an American flag on their shirt or mask, they were automatically deemed to be Trump supporters. 13. I called the FBI and made a report with them, I was told that I will be getting a call back. |
Smartmatic
Smartmatic was officially incorporated on 11 April 11. 2000 in Delaware.[33][34][35] After receiving funds from private investors, the company then began to expand. Smartmatic was the main technology supplier for fourteen Venezuelan national elections. In March 2018, Smartmatic ceased operations in Venezuela.[36]
Smartmatic acquired Sequoia Voting Systems in 2005.[37][38][39] Following this acquisition, Rep. Carolyn 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".[40] 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.[41]
Following the request, Smartmatic and Sequoia submitted a request to be reviewed by the CFIUS while also denying links to the Venezuelan government.[42] 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%).[43] Smartmatic subsequently sold Sequoia and later withdrew from Cook County in December 2006.[44]
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. 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". 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", while BBC News states that though Smartmatic says the company was founded in the United States, "its roots are firmly anchored in (Venezuela)". Multiple sources simply state that Smartmatic is a Venezuelan company.[45] Smartmatic maintains that the holding companies in multiple countries are used for "tax efficiency".[46]
2016 Utah Republican caucus
In the 2016 Utah Republican caucus, where Utah Republicans voted to choose the party’s nominee for president in the 2016 Presidential election, the voters had the opportunity to vote using traditional methods or to vote online. For online voting, the Utah Republican Party used an internet voting system developed by the Smartmatic-Cybernetica Internet Voting Centre of Excellence, based in Estonia.[47][48]
Despite warnings from security experts,[49] Utah Republican Party officials billed the online voting system, for which the state paid $150,000. Multiple issues occurred with the system, with voters receiving error messages and even being blocked from voting. Smartmatic received thousands of calls from Utah voters surrounding issues with the process. The Washington Post states that "the concern seems to be less with the technology and more with the security of the devices people use to vote".[50] According to Joe Kiniry, the lead researcher of Galois, a technology research firm:
Several of us did a lightweight analysis of it remotely, to see how it was built and deployed and this sort of thing ... we found that they were using technologies that even modern Web programmers stay away from. ... It’s like the dumbest possible choices are being made by some of these companies with respect to deployed technology that should be mission-critical!
Philippines
Smartmatic has been criticized by various entities for its motives and handling of elections in the Philippines.[51] In opinion polls, voters have approved of Smartmatic's automated system used by Comelec, with 84% of respondents stating that they had "big trust" in the automated process according to a June 2019 Pulse Asia Research poll.[52]
The Manila Times has stated that Smartmatic's system was unreliable, glitchy and vulnerable to tampering. After the newspaper reported that Smartmatic had been funneling voter information through "unofficial servers",[53] The Manila Times ultimately called on officials from the country's electoral body, Comelec, to resign.[54] William Yu of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, an election NGO, stated that such servers perform "many other activities before the elections" and that it "does not necessarily, automatically mean that data has been transmitted", though he requested that Comelec and Smartmatic provide an explanation.[55]
In early 2017, The Manila Times reported that Smartmatic machines were equipped with SD cards where voter entries are recorded, citing Glenn Chong, a former congressman of the NGO Tanggulang Demokrasya (TANDEM) stating that "at least one SD card was tampered with", allegedly showing that Smartmatic's system was "very much open to hijacking or sabotage".[56] A reviewer of the Philippine Linux Users’ Group stated that hacking into Smartmatic's system is "very difficult for outsiders" and that "it’s not as difficult to hack into the system if you’re a Comelec or a group of Comelec or Smartmatic personnel", expressing the importance of monitoring by Comelec and asking the public to have good faith in the electoral body.[57]
The IBON Foundation, a non-profit research organization based in the Philippines also criticized Smartmatic's system, stating in 2016 that "Why Smartmatic keeps on winning Comelec contracts boggles the mind especially considering the numerous and major malfunctions by the machines and services that Smartmatic provided in the past two elections" and that there were "allegations of rigged bidding to favor Smartmatic such as designing contracts where only Smartmatic can qualify or omitting requirements that will otherwise disqualify Smartmatic".[51]
2010 elections
Prior to the elections, Filipino-Americans called on President Barack Obama to investigate the background of Smartmatic prior to the elections due to its links to the Venezuelan government. Smartmatic described these actions as "trying to rehash a story based on market share".[58] Following allegations of fraud, some employees of Smartmatic had their passports temporarily held.[59] At a fraud inquiry on May 20, 2010, Heider Garcia of Smartmatic was questioned on the transparency and what he called "unforeseen" occurrences during the election process, with Philippine official Teodoro Locsin Jr. – an automated poll advocate – sharply rebuking Garcia. On June 29, 2010, the Philippine Computer Society (PCS) filed a complaint with the country's Ombudsman against 17 officials of the Commission on Elections and the Smartmatic-TIM Corp. for alleged “incompetence,” graft and unethical conduct.[60]
2016 elections
Days after the May 2016 elections, Bongbong Marcos alleged that Smartmatic had tampered with the votes which cost him being elected Vice President of the Philippines and criminal proceedings were filed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against Comelec personnel as well as Smartmatic employees, with Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon stating that Smartmatic had violated protocols.[61] After a Smartmatic employee fled the country, Bongbong Marcos accused the Comelec for his "escape", though two other Smartmatic personnel, one from Venezuela and the other from Israel, were present for criminal proceedings.[62] In July 2016, it was reported that Smartmatic funneled votes through "unofficial servers". In an October 2016 editorial, The Manila Times called on all members of Comelec to resign due to the "innumerable controversies since its adoption of the Smartmatic-based Automated Election System".
On June 7, 2017, the Philippine Department of Justice indicted "several Smartmatic and Comelec personnel for changing the script in the election transparency server on election night during the May 2016 national and local polls". Those charged with the tampering include Marlon Garcia, the head of the Smartmatic's Technical Support Team, as well as two other Smartmatic employees, Neil Baniqued and Mauricio Herrera, and Comelec IT employees Rouie Peñalba, Nelson Herrera, and Frances Mae Gonzales. The six were charged with "illegal access, data interference, and system interference" under the Cybercrime Prevention Act.[63]
In August 2017, it was revealed that Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista was allegedly paid commissions by Divina Law while serving as chairman "for assisting the law firm clients with the Comelec". Divina Law, a firm that provides legal advice to Smartmatic. Bautista admitted that he obtained "referral fees", but denied that it was due to his position in Comelec. According to House Deputy Minority Leader Harry Roque, the incident is "a very clear case of bribery" by Smartmatic.[64]
See also
References
- ↑ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/huge-corrupted-software-used-michigan-county-stole-6000-votes-trump-also-used-swing-states-uses-chinese-computer-parts-machines/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/5ZjLrgQDtCQ
- ↑ http://dennismichaellynch.com/dml-morning-briefing-mon-nov-16-trump-lawyer-vows-to-overturn-results-of-election-in-several-states/
- ↑ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/dominion-voting-machines-include-weighted-race-feature-whose-purpose-cheat-elections-contacted-dominion-not-get-response/
- ↑ https://thenewamerican.com/potus-dominion-voting-system-deleted-2-7-million-trump-votes/
- ↑ https://thenationalpulse.com/news/dominion-voting-system-flag/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1327329411805421570
- ↑ https://www.trevorloudon.com/2020/11/dominion-smartmatic-it-is-a-mess-here-are-some-top-details/
- ↑ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/since-election-day-100-243-dominion-employees-linkedin-deleted-profiles/
- ↑ https://www.thepostemail.com/2016/09/01/critical-flaws-in-election-security-confirmed-by-dominion-voting-executive/
- ↑ http://www.defendthevote.com/114-election-security/508-massive-flaws-election-security-confirmed-by-dominion-voting
- ↑ https://en-volve.com/2020/11/16/anti-trump-engineer-of-dominion-voting-systems-said-i-made-sure-trumps-not-gonna-win-in-secret-call-with-antifa-claims-man-who-infiltrated-group/
- ↑ https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-biden-election-results-11-06-20/h_cea5da87d01a2365d79863c9912d5c64
- ↑ https://noqreport.com/2020/11/06/dominion-voting-systems-the-company-at-the-center-of-michigan-and-georgia-voting-glitches/
- ↑ https://thefederalist.com/2020/11/06/software-glitch-in-michigan-county-tallied-6000-republican-votes-as-democrat/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/1mrWY3UYL88
- ↑ http://freedomdailypress.com/2020/11/10/breaking-exclusive-system-glitch-also-uncovered-in-wisconsin-reversal-of-19032-votes-removes-lead-from-joe-bid
- ↑ https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/tgps-joe-hoft-steve-bannons-war-room-10-et-americasvoice-news-tv-discuss-recent-wisconsin-finding/
- ↑ https://themarketswork.com/2020/11/15/pre-election-concerns-over-dominion-voting-systems-highlighted-in-georgia-lawsuit/
- ↑ Affidavits of Mellisa Carone and Patricia Rose
- ↑ https://youtu.be/Ztu5Y5obWPk
- ↑ https://twitter.com/PlaysTrumpCard/status/1326508337140207619
- ↑ Democracy Suite® EMS Results Tally & Reporting User Guide, Version: 5.11-CO::7, May 28, 2019
- ↑ https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_employer=dominion+voting
- ↑ https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/lobbyists?cycle=2020&id=D000068717
- ↑ https://noqreport.com/2020/11/06/dominion-voting-systems-the-company-at-the-center-of-michigan-and-georgia-voting-glitches/
- ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/09/07/shaheen-aide-heads-to-lobby-firm-with-senate-democrats-in-demand-on-k-street/
- ↑ https://archive.is/4Q24P
- ↑ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sidney-powell-people-with-links-to-powerful-democrats-using-dominion-voting-machines-to-steal-votes
- ↑ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/democratic-senators-warned-of-potential-vote-switching-by-dominion-voting-machines-prior-to-2020-election
- ↑ https://www.twitch.tv/videos/798796260?t=0h15m8s
- ↑ https://www.greatlakesjc.org/wp-content/uploads/Supplemental-Brief-Motion-for-TRO-Costantino.pdf
- ↑ Division of Corporations - Filing - SMARTMATIC CORPORATION. State of Delaware.
- ↑ Foreign Profit - SMARTMATIC CORPORATION. State of Delaware.
- ↑ "A Crucial Vote for Venezuela and a Company" New York Times. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
- ↑ "Smartmatic Announces Cease of Operations in Venezuela", Business Wire, 6 March 2018. (en)
- ↑ "Voting Machine Firm Denies Chavez Ties", The Washington Post, 31 October 2006. “Bizta, a start-up technology company in Venezuela with some of the same owners as Smartmatic”
- ↑ Business Wire, 9 March 2005, Sequoia Voting Systems and Smartmatic Combine to Form Global Leader in Electronic Voting Solutions
- ↑ "Smartmatic es una empresa de "comercio riesgoso" y... defraudadora", La Crónica de Hoy, 1 December 2009. (es-MX)
- ↑ Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Retrieved on 2 January 2018.
- ↑ ABC Local, 7 April 2006, Alderman: Election Day troubles could be part of 'international conspiracy'
- ↑ Voting-Machine Firm Denies Hugo Chavez Ties (2006-10-30).
- ↑ Voting Machine Company Vows No Connection to Venezuelan President Chavez (en).
- ↑ "Politics & Economics: Smartmatic to Shed U.S. Unit, End Probe Into Venezuelan Links", The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 22 December 2006.
- ↑ "US Caracas Embassy: 'Smartmatic is a riddle'", The Manila Times, 1 December 2015.
(7 February 2007) Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), One Year After Dubai Ports World: Congressional Hearing. Washington, D.C.: Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. ISBN 978-1422320471.
"Smartmatic faces probe", Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 May 2016.
Belgian Region's Decision to Use New Voting Machines Reignites E-voting Debate|url=http://www.cio.com/article/2391971/e-voting/belgian-region-s-decision-to-use-new-voting-machines-reignites-e-voting-debate.html%7Cmagazine=CIO magazine|date=2012-09-24 - ↑ "Election officials OK with probe", The Chicago Tribune, 30 October 2006. (en)
- ↑ "Estonian internet voting software used in Utah Republican caucus", 2016-04-14. (en-US)
- ↑ Estonian E-solutions Everywhere - e-Estonia (2016-05-23).
- ↑ "Utah's Online Caucus Gives Security Experts Heart Attacks", WIRED, 21 March 2016.
- ↑ "Utah Republicans are holding a first-ever online presidential primary. And it's not going so well.", The Washington Post, 22 March 2016.
- ↑ 51.0 51.1 Automated Polls: Privatized elections, foreign-controlled democracy (Part 2).
- ↑ Tomacruz, Sofia. Most Filipinos express 'big trust' in results of 2019 elections – Pulse Asia (en).
- ↑ "Smartmatic admits using unofficial servers", The Manila Times, 22 July 2016.
- ↑ "Defying the Supreme Court, the Comelec should resign en banc - The Manila Times Online", The Manila Times, 16 October 2016.
- ↑ Bueza, Michael. 'Irregularities' in 2016 election server logs? Not necessarily, says I.T. expert (en).
- ↑ "Filipino people helpless against untrustworthiness of Comelec - The Manila Times Online", The Manila Times, 19 January 2017.
- ↑ Information technology expert says AES difficult to hack (en-US).
- ↑ "Obama asked: Investigate Smartmatic", Philippine Daily Inquirer, 9 May 2010. “Smartmatic has disclosed, he said, that its owners are families in Venezuela”
- ↑ "'Teddy Boy' blows top at Smartmatic official", ABS-CBN News, 20 May 2010.
- ↑ Inquirer.Net: Graft raps filed vs Smartmatic, Comelec execs.
- ↑ "Smartmatic faces probe", Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 May 2016.
- ↑ "Comelec hit for escape of Smartmatic engineer - The Manila Times Online", The Manila Times, 19 June 2016.
- ↑ "Smartmatic, Comelec personnel ordered indicted for Halalan 2016 script alteration", ABS-CBN Corporation, 7 June 2017.
- ↑ "Solon: Bautista's 'receipt of fee for Smartmatic referral' casts doubt on 2016 polls", CNN, 9 August 2017. (en)
External link
- Miles Guo : The Software for The U.S. President Election Was Supplied by The CCP ｜ Daily Express – Nov. 12, 2020
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