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Fact check: Were 2024 US election machines tampered with?
1. Summary of the results
The question of whether 2024 US election machines were tampered with cannot be definitively proven based on available evidence. While there is an ongoing lawsuit by SMART Elections regarding alleged undisclosed changes to voting machines in over 40% of US counties by Pro V&V lab [1], there is currently no substantiated evidence of widespread tampering or intentional manipulation [2]. Multiple security measures were in place, including paper ballot records, physical security, pre-election testing, and post-election reviews [3].
2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints
Several important contextual elements need to be considered:
- After Trump's victory in Pennsylvania and the overall election, most fraud allegations subsided [4]
- There were documented unauthorized access attempts to voting system software following the 2020 election in Georgia, Michigan, and Colorado [5]
- Some specific technical issues reported include:
- Kamala Harris's name allegedly missing from some Democratic-leaning area ballots [1]
- Statistical anomalies in vote counts in some districts [1]
- Isolated machine glitches that were documented but did not indicate systematic fraud [2]
3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement
The question of election machine tampering is often weaponized for political purposes:
- Right-wing interests initially pushed fraud narratives but largely stopped after Trump's victory [4]
- Left-leaning accounts subsequently raised their own suspicions about voting machines, though these remained unsubstantiated [4]
- Voting machine companies and election officials benefit from maintaining public trust in the system's integrity
- Political activists and media outlets on both sides can benefit from promoting controversy and doubt about election integrity
- The classification of voting machine updates as "de minimis" (minor) to potentially bypass scrutiny raises questions about transparency in the election system [1]