Across the United States, a high-stakes election night is unfolding. More than 200 million people took part on Tuesday in a race that will decide whether the next president is Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Yet once the polls close, a third player will emerge: the voting machines and the web of fraud conspiracies that have surrounded them.
In recent weeks, the vote-counting systems have become the target of a flood of misinformation pushed by the Trump campaign. As in 2020, the Republican candidate has once again planted unfounded doubts about the democratic process, setting the stage for a narrative that if he wins it was earned, and if he loses it was the result of fraud.
This new surge arrives as Trump awaits trial for his role in the violent assault on the Capitol, when a mob tried to overturn the certification of Biden’s victory. That attempt grew from allegations of fraud that never existed. Federal and state courts have dismissed more than 60 lawsuits across six states. Trump has not conceded defeat since 2020, and nothing suggests he will do so in this cycle either.
New wave of misinformation
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Trump and his allies, including tech magnate Elon Musk, are again repeating that falsehood, urging followers not to trust voting systems “because they are too easy to hack.” Those theories circulate freely on social networks, especially on X, the platform owned by Musk. Additionally, Republican advisers are behind a wave of lawsuits aimed at challenging the use of that system even before the elections, according to The New York Times.
Beyond these efforts to sow doubt, the American electoral administration maintains robust and precise records. Of the 6,929 general state elections held between 2000 and 2023, only 36 recounts occurred and just three results were overturned, according to FairVote, a nonpartisan organization.
How voting machines work
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Voting machines are becoming more secure. Officials use computer systems to register each voter and monitor the ballot that is cast. This digitized process carries risks like cyberattacks, which is why precautions are put in place. For instance, critical systems are isolated from the internet, paper backups are kept for every vote, and data is stored on external drives or USB sticks. In most cases, machines are not connected to a network, a factor that boosts reliability and reduces potential vulnerabilities.
In 2016, the White House designated electoral systems as critical infrastructure, largely due to interference attempts by Russia. That designation allows the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to review and safeguard the security of the machines. Its director, Jen Easterly, stated in September that the electoral infrastructure has never been more secure.
Yet each jurisdiction operates with its own procedures. In many parts of the country, voters fill out paper ballots by hand and then have them scanned electronically. In some cities, votes are counted by hand. There are also differences in the order in which ballots are counted — some places start with mail-in ballots, others prioritize in-person ballots. These variations partly explain the delays in results, a tactic Trump has used to attack the process without evidence.
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Dishonesty can carry a heavy price. Last year, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle rather than face trial. The conservative network, owned by Rupert Murdoch, had been sued for defamation after amplifying Trump-era misinformation. Other outlets in the ultraconservative orbit, such as Newsmax or One America News Network, have reached similar settlements with Smartmatic, a company that also supplies voting systems.