Regarding voter machines, the developers of the machines are not the same as those who operate the elections.
Election results go through a lot of bookkeeping analysis, and the results are examined by multiple entities that have allegiances to both parties, and they don’t like each other very much, so they’re eager to jump on the other when they make an error or a false claim.
If there are irregularities, they get detected, and if not everyone analyzing the results are showing different outcomes, it invites a higher level of scrutiny.
This isn’t to say weird shit doesn’t occur. In Palm Beach, 2000, Pat Buchanan got a conspicuously high number of votes that probably should have gone to Gore, because Democratic-leaning seniors there got confused with the butterfly ballots. In 2020 and 2024, there were a lot of single-mark ballots, in which voters voted only for Biden, Harris or Trump, and abstained from everything down-ballot. Biden got more of them in 2020. Trump got more in 2024. These things happen, but they are oddities within the constraints of the possible, and were robustly confirmed by the system.
Now, I concede that electronic voting machines should run on open source software, and they don’t, but there are a lot of distrustful eyes on the output of those machines. Gaming them would take a conspiracy of a lot of people, and as we’ve seen in the White House, even six super-loyal cabinet members cannot seem to stop information leaks.
PS:I had the same hypotheses and learned about this stuff in 2000 when Bush stole the election from Gore with a bit of help from SCOTUS (who made a ruling they totally knew was bogus, and insisted should never be used as precedent.) Gore won the majority, but failed to take Florida due to the ruling. The United States let George W. Bush (promising to be a compassionate conservative) and we all regretted it immediately after he took office. And then the 9/11 attacks happened in 2001 and everything went way to shit.
Regarding voter machines, the developers of the machines are not the same as those who operate the elections.
Election results go through a lot of bookkeeping analysis, and the results are examined by multiple entities that have allegiances to both parties, and they don’t like each other very much, so they’re eager to jump on the other when they make an error or a false claim.
If there are irregularities, they get detected, and if not everyone analyzing the results are showing different outcomes, it invites a higher level of scrutiny.
This isn’t to say weird shit doesn’t occur. In Palm Beach, 2000, Pat Buchanan got a conspicuously high number of votes that probably should have gone to Gore, because Democratic-leaning seniors there got confused with the butterfly ballots. In 2020 and 2024, there were a lot of single-mark ballots, in which voters voted only for Biden, Harris or Trump, and abstained from everything down-ballot. Biden got more of them in 2020. Trump got more in 2024. These things happen, but they are oddities within the constraints of the possible, and were robustly confirmed by the system.
Now, I concede that electronic voting machines should run on open source software, and they don’t, but there are a lot of distrustful eyes on the output of those machines. Gaming them would take a conspiracy of a lot of people, and as we’ve seen in the White House, even six super-loyal cabinet members cannot seem to stop information leaks.
PS: I had the same hypotheses and learned about this stuff in 2000 when Bush stole the election from Gore with a bit of help from SCOTUS (who made a ruling they totally knew was bogus, and insisted should never be used as precedent.) Gore won the majority, but failed to take Florida due to the ruling. The United States let George W. Bush (promising to be a compassionate conservative) and we all regretted it immediately after he took office. And then the 9/11 attacks happened in 2001 and everything went way to shit.