SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday called for an end to the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in Puerto Rico's primary election, citing their high risk of being hacked, after independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. alleged irregularities with the EVMs.
“Electronic voting machines should be abolished. The risk of human or AI hacking is small but still too high,” Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Earlier Saturday, Kennedy Jr. expressed concern that fraud involving electronic voting machines was occurring in places where there are no paper records: “According to the Associated Press, there were hundreds of cases of voter fraud linked to electronic voting machines in the Puerto Rican primary. Fortunately, there were paper records, so the problems were identified and the vote counts were revised. What is happening in places where there are no paper records?” he wrote on X.
Electronic voting machines should be abolished. The risk of human or AI hacking is small, but still too high. https://t.co/PHzJsoXpLh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2024
He also called for a return to paper voting for the election. “The American people need to know that every vote they cast will be counted and that our election cannot be hacked. We need to return to paper voting to avoid electronic interference in our elections. My administration will mandate paper voting and guarantee honest and fair elections,” Kennedy Jr. stressed.
In 2020, according to a report: POLITICOFormer US President Donald Trump drafts executive order to become Secretary of Defense Seize the voting machinesTrump's supporters have alleged that tabulation machines were rigged in some elections and have called for the machines to be scrapped altogether and ballots to be counted by hand. Reuters report.
These claims have been investigated and rejected, but “allegations of voter fraud have sowed widespread distrust in elections, with a recent ABC/Ipsos poll finding that only around 20% of Americans have a great deal of confidence in the electoral system,” the news agency reported.
Jones, a retired computer science professor, also stressed that while there is no evidence that hackers broke into the EVMs, the possibility remains. “The reason we use paper is to create a chain of evidence that can be used to test the accuracy of the count. The reason we use scanners is to mechanize the count and to avoid as many clerical errors as possible,” Jones said. Reuters The report quoted Jones as saying:
According to election experts, Reuters“Paper ballots help ensure election security by allowing voters to verify how they voted and allowing election officials to reconcile the results in post-election audits.”
In 2016, about 22% of registered voters lived in jurisdictions that use EVMs without paper voting records, but that number has fallen to less than 9%, according to data from the U.S. nonprofit Verified Voting.
Republicans and Democrats voted in Puerto Rico's primary election this April.
Current US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off again in the 2024 presidential election, which is expected to be divisive and close.
