Dominion Voting Systems is a voting technology company founded in Ontario, Canada and currently based in Denver, Colorado. In 2016, Dominion’s technology served 70 million voters, and as of 2019, Dominion was the second-largest seller of voting machines in the United States. ¹² In the 2020 elections, Dominion provided 37.7% of voting booths,³ which were used in 28 states, including the competitive states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. ⁴

Since the victory of President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Dominion has been accused of being involved in a supposed plot to rig the election against President Donald Trump. President Trump has Tweeted in support of these claims without providing evidence for them. ⁵

There is no evidence that Dominion voting technology has been tampered with in any illicit manner or otherwise used to report false totals of votes cast. President Trump and supporters of the conspiracy have been criticized by numerous media outlets of both conservative and left-of-center ideology for undermining the elections process. ⁶

Origins of Voter Fraud Accusations

Voter fraud accusations against Dominion may have originated from explained voter reporting problems in Antrim County, Michigan, and a few counties in Georgia that used Dominion voting booths and erroneously reported higher vote numbers for Joe Biden. Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox initially attributed these errors to “tabulating software glitched” which “caused a miscalculation of the votes.” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) would later clarify that the miscount was due to “human error” rather than any systematic software or hardware issue. ⁷

On November 8, Sydney Powell, a former federal prosecutor and then-member of President Trump’s legal team in charge of contesting Presidential election results, accused Dominion of perpetrating voter fraud at the behest of the Democratic Party during a Fox News interview. Powell also suggested that Dominion rigged the elections against Republican Congressmen in Michigan and Georgia, and rigged the Democratic primaries against Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). ⁸

On November 12, right-wing outlet One America News Network (OANN) reported that according to a third-party report, Dominion voting booths had deleted 2.7 million votes for President Trump, and switched hundreds of thousands of more votes to Joe Biden in battleground states. ⁹

On the same day, President Trump Tweeted an excerpt of the report in apparent support. Twitter attached a label to the Tweet stating: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.” ¹⁰ As of December 6, President Trump’s Tweet has been retweeted almost 190,000 times. ¹¹

On November 13, President Trump Tweeted a segment by Sean Hannity on Fox News alleging that Dominion had miscounted votes in Michigan and Georgia at such a high rate that it could not have been accidental. ¹²

As of December 8, 2020, no claim of “vote switching” against Dominion-manufactured voting equipment has been substantiated in court. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Dominion CEO John Poulos affirmed:¹³

Third-party test labs, chosen by the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission and accredited by a program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, perform complete source-code reviews on every federally certified tabulation system. States replicate this process for their own certifications. Postelection canvassing and auditing also exist to provide additional assurance of the vote totals’ accuracy.

Claims Against Dominion

Connections to Interfering Organizations

Sydney Powell has claimed that Dominion was influenced to rig the election by individuals with connections to the Democratic Party. In 2019, Nadeam Elshami, Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) former chief-of-staff, became a lobbyist for Dominion. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) husband, Richard Blum, has been alleged to be a significant shareholder of Dominion, though Dominion denies the claim. ¹⁴¹⁵

Dominion has been accused of being a front company for Smartmatic, another voting technology company, which was allegedly founded by associates of former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Dominion and Smartmatic both deny any corporate connection, and the American-born Venezuelan founders of Smartmatic deny any connection to Chavez. ¹⁶

Dominion Voting Technology in Contested States

According to a viral Facebook post, Dominion voting booths were used in all of the states where President Trump has filed lawsuits to contest the presidential election results: Arizona, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Dominion booths were present in 22 other states. ¹⁷

Dominion CEO John Poulos noted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that “some of the main counties where results have been contested, like Philadelphia and Allegheny (Pittsburgh), don’t even use Dominion voting systems.” ¹⁸

Edison Research Report

On November 12, OANN claimed that Edison Research, a polling and data analysis firm, had found evidence of Dominion deleting 2.7 million votes for President Trump (including 1 million in Pennsylvania alone), and switching hundreds of thousands of votes from Trump to Biden in swing states. The vote manipulation was allegedly a product of coordinated “glitches” within Dominion’s software. Edison Research has denied issuing such a report or making any similar claims. ¹⁹

A hand recount and audit of paper ballots in Georgia did not substantiate claims of “deleted” votes or other intentional false reporting of votes cast. ²⁰

Hammer and Scorecard

In an interview with Lou Dobbs on Fox Business News, Sydney Powell claimed that 3% of all votes cast in the presidential election were switched from President Trump to Biden by “the Hammer program and the software program called Scorecard.” Soon after, retired Air Force lieutenant general Thomas McInerney claimed that Hammer was a “cyberwarfare tool” and Scorecard a voting manipulation program developed by the CIA. McInerney also claimed that President Barack Obama and then-vice president Biden used Hammer and Scorecard to win the 2012 presidential election. ²¹

Chris Krebs, until late 2020 the director of the Department of Homeland Security‘s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, has affirmed that neither Hammer nor Scorecard exist. Further, the purported mechanism by which the supposed programs would alter votes could not function under American electoral procedures. ²²

Andrew Appel

On November 13, Sean Hannity produced a segment on Fox News where he suggested Dominion machines were used in voter fraud in Michigan and Georgia. Hannity cited work by Princeton computer security expert Andrew Appel who had previously criticized the security of Dominion’s ImageCast Evolution voting machine. Appel released a public statement noting that the ImageCast Evolution machines were not used in Michigan nor Georgia, and that American voting systems were largely exempt from his criticism due to their heavy reliance on hand-drawn ballots. ²³

Purported Frankfurt Raid

Viral Facebook posts have claimed that a raid by the US military on Dominion servers in Frankfurt, Germany have revealed true election results showing an overwhelming victory for Donald Trump. Dominion denies the existence of any servers in Germany, and the U.S. Army did not raid them. ²⁴

1. “The Business of Voting.” Penn Wharton. November 25, 2018. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200701025059/https://publicpolicy.wharton.upenn.edu/live/files/270-the-business-of-votin.
2. Wilkie, Jordan. “’They think they are above the law’: the firms that own America’s voting system.” The Guardian. April 23, 2019. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/22/us-voting-machine-private-companies-voter-registration.
3. Wilson, Megan R.; Ross, Michaela. “Voting Machine Firms Add Lobbyists Amid Election Hacker Concerns.” Bloomberg. April 1, 2019. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://about.bgov.com/news/voting-machine-firms-add-lobbyists-amid-election-hacker-concerns/.
4. Roos, Meghan. “Dominion Voting Systems ‘Categorically Denies’ Election Tech Glitches Following Trump Accusations.” Newsweek. November 13, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://www.newsweek.com/dominion-voting-systems-categorically-denies-election-tech-glitches-following-trump-accusations-1547405.
5. Rieder, Rem. “Trump Tweets Conspiracy Theory About Deleted Votes.” FactCheck.org. November 13, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://www.factcheck.org/2020/11/trump-tweets-conspiracy-theory-about-deleted-votes/.
6. McCormack, John. “How We Know Dominion Voting Machines Didn’t Affect the Election Outcome,” November 20, 2020. https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/11/how-we-know-dominion-voting-machines-didnt-affect-the-election-outcome/.
7. Dent, Alec. “Fact Check: Explaining the False Allegations About Dominion Voting Systems.” The Dispatch. November 10, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/fact-check-explaining-the-false-allegations.
8. Chaitin, Daniel. “Sidney Powell: People with links to powerful Democrats using Dominion voting machines to ‘steal’ votes.” Washington Examiner. November 8, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sidney-powell-people-with-links-to-powerful-democrats-using-dominion-voting-machines-to-steal-votes?fbclid=IwAR3XLFF6kRqp4TPKgUlK6dGfRG4LSF_kykzoL632cVy4TOyu_mJh2Acmunk.
9. Funke, Daniel; Putterman, Samantha. “Trump’s tweet about 2.7 million deleted votes is baseless.” Politifact. November 12, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/nov/12/donald-trump/trumps-tweet-about-27-million-deleted-votes-basele/.
10. Funke, Daniel; Putterman, Samantha. “Trump’s tweet about 2.7 million deleted votes is baseless.” Politifact. November 12, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/nov/12/donald-trump/trumps-tweet-about-27-million-deleted-votes-basele/.
11. “Donald J. Trump.” Twitter. November 12, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1326926226888544256.
12. Dent, Alec. “Fact Check: Addressing Yet More Claims About Dominion Voting Systems.” The Dispatch. November 14, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/fact-check-addressing-yet-more-claims.
13. Poulos, John. “Opinion | Fake Claims About Dominion Voting Systems Do Real Damage.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, November 30, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/fake-claims-about-dominion-voting-systems-do-real-damage-11606755399?mod=opinion_lead_pos9.
14. Chaitin, Daniel. “Sidney Powell: People with links to powerful Democrats using Dominion voting machines to ‘steal’ votes.” Washington Examiner. November 8, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sidney-powell-people-with-links-to-powerful-democrats-using-dominion-voting-machines-to-steal-votes?fbclid=IwAR3XLFF6kRqp4TPKgUlK6dGfRG4LSF_kykzoL632cVy4TOyu_mJh2Acmunk.
15. Dent, Alec. “Fact Check: Explaining the False Allegations About Dominion Voting Systems.” The Dispatch. November 10, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/fact-check-explaining-the-false-allegations.
16. “Fact Check: Dominion is not linked to Smartmatic, Antifa or Venezuela, did not switch the U.S. 2020 election votes in Virginia and was not subject to a U.S. army raid in Germany.” Reuters. November 26, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-dominion/fact-check-dominion-is-not-linked-to-smartmatic-antifa-or-venezuela-did-not-switch-u-s-2020-election-votes-in-virginia-and-was-not-subject-to-a-u-s-army-raid-in-germany-idUSKBN2861TB.
17. Dent, Alec. “Fact Check: More False Claims About Dominion Voting Systems.” The Dispatch. November 12, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/fact-check-more-false-claims-about.
18. Poulos, John. “Opinion | Fake Claims About Dominion Voting Systems Do Real Damage.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, November 30, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/fake-claims-about-dominion-voting-systems-do-real-damage-11606755399?mod=opinion_lead_pos9.
19. Dent, Alex. “Did Edison Research Find that Dominion Deleted Trump Votes or Switched Votes to Biden.” The Dispatch. November 12, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/did-edison-research-find-that-states.
20. Poulos, John. “Opinion | Fake Claims About Dominion Voting Systems Do Real Damage.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, November 30, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/fake-claims-about-dominion-voting-systems-do-real-damage-11606755399?mod=opinion_lead_pos9.
21. Himmelman, Khaya.” Fact Check: Debunking the Hammer and Scorecard Conspiracy Theory.” The Dispatch. November 12, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/fact-check-debunking-the-hammer-and.
22. Himmelman, Khaya.” Fact Check: Debunking the Hammer and Scorecard Conspiracy Theory.” The Dispatch. November 12, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/fact-check-debunking-the-hammer-and.
23. “Fact Check: Addressing Yet More Claims About Dominion Voting Systems.” November 14, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/fact-check-addressing-yet-more-claims.
24. “Fact Check: Dominion is not linked to Smartmatic, Antifa or Venezuela, did not switch the U.S. 2020 election votes in Virginia and was not subject to a U.S. army raid in Germany.” Reuters. November 26, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2020. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-dominion/fact-check-dominion-is-not-linked-to-smartmatic-antifa-or-venezuela-did-not-switch-u-s-2020-election-votes-in-virginia-and-was-not-subject-to-a-u-s-army-raid-in-germany-idUSKBN2861TB.