by Anthony Gockowski
In a 2019 letter, Sen. Amy Klobuchar raised concerns about the “trouble-plagued companies” managing voting machines across the country, calling reports of faulty machines and software a threat to the “integrity of our elections.”
The letter, signed by Klobuchar, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Mark Pocan, was sent to the investors of Election Systems & Software, Dominion Voting System and Hart InterCivic — three election technology companies that “facilitate voting for over 90% of all eligible voters in the United States.”
“We are particularly concerned that secretive and ‘trouble-plagued companies,’ owned by private equity firms and responsible for manufacturing and maintaining voting machines and other election administration equipment, ‘have long skimped on security in favor of convenience,’ leaving voting systems across the country ‘prone to security problems,’” states the letter.
Dominion Voting System in particular has been the subject of widespread criticism in recent days after its machines in Antrim County, Michigan, incorrectly counted votes for Democrats that were cast for Republicans.
According to a recent report from The Center Square, Texas rejected the use of the Dominion technology on three different occasions because officials discovered “multiple hardware and software issues.”
More than 30 states use Dominion’s voting machines, which reached an estimated 71 million voters in the 2016 election.
In their letter, Klobuchar and her colleagues said “voting machines are reportedly falling apart across the country,” since monopolistic vendors like Dominion have no incentive to “innovate and improve.”
“In 2018 alone ‘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 an improbable 164 votes out of 55,000 cast in a Pennsylvania state judicial election in 2019, the county’s Republican Chairwoman said, ‘[n]othing went right on Election Day. Everything went wrong. That’s a problem,’” the letter continues.
“These problems threaten the integrity of our elections and demonstrate the importance of election systems that are strong, durable, and not vulnerable to attack,” it adds.
According to the letter, election security experts “have noted for years that our nation’s election systems and infrastructure are under serious threat.”
“Moreover, even when state and local officials work on replacing antiquated machines, many continue to ‘run on old software that will soon be outdated and more vulnerable to hackers,’” says the letter.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the “horrendous” Dominion Voting Systems on Twitter.
Now it is learned that the horrendous Dominion Voting System was used in Arizona (and big in Nevada). No wonder the result was a very close loss!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2020
In response to the Trump campaign’s allegations of fraud, Klobuchar said “both Republican and Democratic election officials have said this has been one of the most secure elections in American history.”
“The American people have spoken and it’s time to accept the election results,” she said.
Both Republican and Democratic election officials have said this has been one of the most secure elections in American history.
The American people have spoken and it’s time to accept the election results. https://t.co/TPDua30vff
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) November 14, 2020
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Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and reported for The Daily Caller.
Photo “Ballot Machine” by Lance Fisher CC BY-SA 2.0.
So Klobuchar’s letter of warning was in 2019, giving plenty of time for states who were using these machines to put auditing measures in place. Did Trump strike an alarm about the machines in 2019? I was marching in spring 2020 urging McConnell to allow Senate to vote on funds for election security. How much energy were Republican senators expending on election security at that time? It seems to me Trump did not like the issue until recently, afraid it might imply that he did not win 2016 fair and square. Courts and states run by Republicans can just not find enough credible evidence to pursue allegations of fraud. Why do you think they are part of conspiracy? A lot of people like Trump, but a bit more don’t. As dubious cases get thrown out of courts, why are some not able to accept that it is in the realm of possibility that Trump lost this election?