4 Things to Know About Voting Machine Company That - The Daily Signal So we will clear it up: Its fake. February 28, 2023, 1:26 PM. Dominion blames 'human error' for voting machines - Washington Examiner "Some of the threats that I've gotten have made very clear that these actors are in it for the long haul. The conspiracy theory appears to have originated in a tweet by Lin Wood, an attorney and Trump supporter, who has pushed a number of false election claims. In the weeks following the election, the election technology firm Dominion Voting Systems has been the target of baseless allegations of election fraud, according to the Washington Post.Now a viral Facebook post attempts to connect President-elect Joe Biden to the company by claiming his sister is married to Stephen Owens, who, the post alleges, owns Dominion Voting Systems. So that unofficial election results can more quickly be relayed to the public. There was no evidence of a shooting, but both officers and witnesses heard a warning blare from the RV: "Evacuate now. The House Committee on Administration held a congressional hearing yesterday which was the first time the heads of the three major vendors, representing at least 80 percent of U.S. voting machines, appeared together for questioning. US Elections were November 3, 2020. Don't Buy the Debunked Dominion Voting Machine Conspiracy Theory The conspiracy theory has grown into a movement that is promoted by right-wing extremists. The same Facebook post also said Dominion voting machines were being audited in the AT&T building that was destroyed by a bomb in Nashville. That is just inviting trouble.. Some posts take the claim a step further, alleging that the former owner of the building was a board member of a firm that owns Dominion. That flood reached Dominion the week after the election, according to Zignal, and misinformation related to the company's machines has been mentioned more than 10 million times since then. "You may want to read a book some day to learn about my reference to rising like a #phoenix. why?" On Christmas morning of 2020, a recreational vehicle exploded on the streets of Nashville near a building owned by AT&T that lies one block from the companys office tower. ", More:Nashville police bodycam footage shows raw moments of chaos before and after explosion. In counties that used Dominion systems, Biden got 888,259 votes to Trump's 851,069. A widely sharedpost on Facebook alleges that four days before the bombing, a rumor circulated that AT&T was awarded a contract to audit Dominion's voting machines, which were supposedly being sent to Nashville. All those. Some of the posts (here) try connect the explosion to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama by claiming that William Kennard, Obamas EU ambassador and Clintons FCC chair, is on AT&Ts board and owns the Nashville AT&T building that was destroyed in the blast. Our mission is to exceed the expectations of our customers, the taxpayers, by operating at the highest levels of accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and accountability in a customer-centered environment. Cerberus Capital previously owned the AT&T Building, onceknownas the BellSouth Building,where the company has operated its Tennessee headquarters since the building's erection in 1994. Previous claims had said the bomb had targeted the AT&T building and that Dominion Voting Systems machines were being audited there(here). The post's creator did not respond to USA TODAY's request for comment. There is no evidence to support the claim that the Nashville bombing or City Blue Imaging's fire were connected to election malfeasance, so we rate this claim FALSE. The printing business took to social media to debunk the claim itself. Jim Greer, associate vice president for corporate communications at AT&T, was blunt in an email response to PolitiFact: "That is not true," he wrote. Spokespeople for AT&T and Dominion confirmed to the AP that AT&T had no contract to audit Dominion machines, and no Dominion machines were to be sent to Nashville. Social media posts from the event tagged the far-right group the Proud Boys. Progressive Democrats Introduce First Bill to Tighten Rail Safety The post displays a headline from a fabricated story by the Genesius Times, a satirical news website, that reads: "BREAKING: Nashville Bomber died from COVID-19 shortly after blowing himself up. The post, which has been shared almost 900 times,makes two claims:A buildingdamaged in the Nashville explosion was holding Dominion Voting Systems machines set to be audited, and in New York, the company that burned was under investigation for printing and shipping fake ballots to Pennsylvania. Dominion Voting Systems, Inc. provides voting machines and tabulators. Jim Greer, a spokesperson for AT&T, told USA TODAY the claims are "not true. Lindell told the Minnesota Reformer, that he and a friend were on their way home from duck hunting in Iowa and were in the Hardee's drive through when three cars with four FBI agents surrounded his vehicle. All rights reserved. This weekend, both Fox Business Network and Newsmax appeared to answer those demands with segments debunking some claims. The AT&T building in downtown Nashville. Its crazy, the amount of misinformation that you see, Mealy said. False claims about the election, Nashville - mcall.com While lawmakers questioned them about foreign influence in their supply chains and whether they would comply with more federal reporting requirements, the presence of modems in some of their tabulators was mentioned but not pursued. Then Acting Undersecretary for Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security Jeanette Manfra said those words in 2017, testifying before Congress while she was responsible for the security of the nations voting system. The posts on social mediaallege the bombing is tied to Dominion Voting Systems, an election technology supplier that's been central to many right-wing, QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Owens, the other co-founder of Staple Street Capital,did not work for Cerberus, despite the post's claim. PolitiFact - No, AT&T was not conducting an audit of Dominion Voting . It's just the latest example of how people's lives are being upended and potentially ruined by the unprecedented flurry of disinformation this year. Jim Greer, associate vice president for corporate communications at AT&T, was blunt in an email response to PolitiFact: "That is not true," he wrote. Skoglund and his team developed a tool that scoured the internet to see if the central computers that program voting machines and run the entire election process at the precinct level were online. "It does appear that the intent was more destruction than death," said David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, inan interview on NBC's "Today." After that podcast went out, the threats quickly arrived. Voting Systems in Tennessee | Tennessee Secretary of State AT&T had a contract to conduct a forensic audit of Dominion Voting Systems in Nashville just prior to a December 2020 explosion in that city. The ATT building in Nashville that was affected by the bomb was owned by Cerebus (sic) Capital. Once they had identified such systems, they contacted the relevant election officials and also provided the information to reporter Kim Zetter, who published the findings in Vices Motherboard in August. We therefore again respectfully request that EAC investigate and take action to correct this serious issue., Once you add that modem, you are de-certifying it, Skoglund said. He has independently become part of the broader Dominion conspiracy theories, though, with some claiming he's Joe Biden's brother-in-law. A sample ballot is shown via the Dominion Voting Systems that Georgians use to vote. 2023 www.statesman.com. There's a third company, Clear Ballot Group which is currently under testing by the state of Florida, the official audit review of their software began May 17th, but that is not . See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Dominion Lawsuit Showcases Paul Ryan's Influence over Fox News Channel's Editorial Control. "That's all still speculation at this point as we continue in our investigation with all of our partners. The explosion injured three other people and damaged businesses in downtown Nashville, including an AT&T switching center, which resulted in widespread communications outages. Heres more information on Facebooks fact-checking program: https://www.facebook.com/help/1952307158131536. Much of the voting equipment was by Dominion. (Read more about, Breaking news meme generators are frequently used online to create fabricated headlines and chyrons such as this one. Dominion has no connection to AT&T, the building, Nashville, family members of the Bidens or the Clintons, and Staple Street is not owned by Cerberus, said Tony Fratto, a partner at the PR firm Hamilton Place Strategies who emailed the AP on behalf of Dominion. RUMOR ALERT: Dominion Voting Systems Fraud Claims Fact check: No, Joe Biden's brother-in-law does not own Dominion Voting Systems, Nashville police bodycam footage shows raw moments of chaos before and after explosion, Three firefighters hurt battling three-alarm blaze in Rochester, "Nashville bombing: What we know about downtown explosion on Christmas morning, FBI Memphis Special Agent in Charge Announces Identity of Remains Discovered in Nashville Explosion Site; Multi-Agency Investigation Continues, FBI identifies suspect in Nashville bombing, After devastating fire, City Blue Imaging looks toward future. AT&T got a contract to do forensic audit on Dominion voting machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week, read one post. More on Dominion:Fact check: Viral photo shows fake logo and slogan for Dominion Voting Systems. The explosion in the heart of Nashville injured three people and damaged businesses including an AT&T switching center, disrupting mobile, internet and TV services across central Tennessee and parts of four other states (here). Lin Wood Wins Restraining Order to Stop Georgia Elections Officials Kevin Skoglund, senior technical advisor at the National Election Defense Coalition. Behind it is the notion that if voting systems are not online, hackers will have a harder time compromising them. Some users seemed to recognize the story as fake, but others didnt. Select an Infowars smear of Dominion Voting Systems. The post implies that the bombing was an attempt to stop the audit and cover up voter fraud. . IE 11 is not supported. Whether it's the standard online trolls, voicemails that are left almost on a daily basis, being called a traitor to this country, I can't even begin to describe what effect this has had on my life," he said. The company recently threatened a number of groups repeating the claims with lawsuits, including One America News Network, Newsmax and Fox News. That agreement is long over, and they no longer have the . So did the type of explosives used to detonate the blast. Chinese parts, hidden ownership, growing scrutiny: Inside - NBC News How Eric Coomer Became the 'Perfect Villain' for Voting Conspiracists Heres why:In the wake of theChristmas morning explosion in Nashville, Tenn., a baseless conspiracy theory startedcirculatingonlinethat claims Nashvilles downtown AT&T complex, which was damaged in the blast, had gotten a contract to conduct a "forensic audit" on Dominion Voting Systems machines. The services and oversight found in the Secretary of State's office reach every department and agency in state government. In 2020, the controversy revolves around Dominion's voting machines, sparked by an erroneous result out of a Michigan county that's been blamed on human error, allegations of rigged Dominion software in Georgia and the fact Texas rejected Dominion's system due to security concerns. Recently, however, there are signs that elections companies, like some election officials, are pushing back against the false accusations. The claim: Dominion Voting Systems is tied up in the Nashville bombing, based on the affected AT&T building's ownership and that the cellular company was contracted to audit Dominion's. causing widespread communications outages. Let's start here: The man behind the Dec. 25 bombing in downtown Nashville, Tenn., died of COVID-19, according to a popular and wrong Facebook post. Bogus conspiracy theory spreading online claims the Nashville bombing was an attempt to cover up voter fraud. CLAIM: AT&T got a contract to do a forensic audit of Dominion Voting Systems machines and those machines were recently moved . There is no evidence that the AT&T switching center damaged by the explosion (here) housed a supercomputer being used to alter the elections outcome. There is no evidence to support the claim that the explosionin Nashville and fire in Rochester, New York,that occurred around the holidays point toward a broader conspiracy to hide election malfeasance. THE FACTS: As federal officials work to piece together a motive for the blast that rattled downtown Nashville on Christmas morning, social media users have invented their own far-fetched theories. Thats an interesting coincidence., Some posts read: So, the explosion just happened to be at the AT&T location where they just so happen to control the cooling system for the super computer and house the dominion voting machines and drives for forensic audit. So, the explosion just happened to be at the AT&T location where they just so happen to control the cooling system for the super computer and house the dominion voting machines and drives for forensic audit, Wait, the bombing in Nashville was at the AT&T data center right after they got the contract to audit the Dominion voting machines? read another post. Oltmann claimed that Coomer said with a laugh on the call that he would make sure Trump didn't win the election. DNA found at the scene matched Warner's, according to an FBI press release. The coalition says it is no longer certain that the number of states is correct, so the figure has been removed from the article. The question is.. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, is suing both Fox News Network and parent company Fox Corp. for defamation. Social media users have been sharing content online that claims AT&T had a contract to do a forensic audit on Dominion Voting Systems machines and that the Dec. 25 explosion in Nashville,. NBC News asked the two other major manufacturers how many of their tabulators with modems were currently in use. The bomber was lateridentified by U.S. Attorney Don Cochranas Anthony Warner, 63, according to The Tennessean. In an all-caps tweet on Saturday night, Trump highlighted a report from One America News Network (OANN), a right-wing outlet, that claimed voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems. Didi Martinez is an associate producer with the NBC News Investigative Unit. In the wake of the Christmas morning explosion in Nashville, Tenn., a baseless conspiracy theory started circulating online that claims Nashvilles downtown AT&T complex, which was damaged in the blast, had gotten a contract to conduct a "forensic audit" on Dominion Voting Systems machines. Revealed: Klobuchar, Warren Sent Letter Warning About Dominion, Other Since the 2016 election, Michigan authorized $82 million dollars to upgrade its election systems. Full text of Commercial and Financial Chronicle : April 6, 1940, Vol ", In an email to PolitiFact, a Dominion spokesperson said the company and AT&T are calling on everyone to reject these baseless rumors: "Americans should continue to seek information from verifiable, trusted sources, such as law enforcement authorities.". NBC News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, which declined to comment on the topic of modem security in voting machine tabulators and scanners. Dominion provides election equipment and software to 28 states, including many of the swing states on which Trump has focused his post-election ire. AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. The 35 systems Skoglunds team found represent a fraction of total voting systems nationwide, though he believes they only captured a portion of the systems that are or have been online. He is focused on New Technologies around AI led Predictive Analytics, Smart Machines, IT Process Automation etc.. through . "So, the explosion just happened to be at the AT&T location where they just so happen to control the cooling system for the super computer and house the dominion voting machines and drives for forensic audit", "Wait, the bombing in Nashville was at the AT&T data center right after they got the contract to audit the Dominion voting machines?," one from Dec. 26 reads. Speaker 13 . He was present when the bomb went off, and he perished in the bombing," Cochran said. Coomer oversees product strategy and security for Dominion Voting Systems, the Denver-based company that has suddenly found itself at the center of many of President Trump's false claims about. Note that aspects of Tennessee law may differ with what is seen on the videos. The conservative network has seen its ratings surge in . Some of Trump's supporters have focused on Coomer as the supposed evil mastermind. Theres a small percentage of jurisdictions in the country -- a lot of them are in Florida -- who have decided they want to modem unofficial results to the election office, he said. He also serves on the boards of Ford Motor Company, MetLife and Duke Energy Corporation (here). But companies that specialize in the subject said it is getting exponentially worse. The report claims the results of the election in . No available external evidence suggests AT&T was involved in any such audit, either. "Coincidence? But to draw that connection, a number of other groups are brought into the fold and it doesn't add up. A Dominion spokeswoman said other company employees have also gone to more secure locations, been threatened and been digitally stalked. The state of Michigan is currently grappling with this issue. One of the co-founders of Staple Street Capital (staplestreetcapital.com/ ), not Staple Street execs, Hootan Yaghoobzadeh, worked at Cerberus prior to starting Staple Street in 2009 (here). "The specific steps taken would depend on the recommendation and the timeline required to make changes effectively.. A Michigan judge ordered the release Monday of an independent forensic audit report of the Dominion Voting Systems machines used in Antrim County, which flipped from a win for Democrat Joe Biden to President Donald Trump after a glitch was discovered and corrected. Skoglund said that they identified only one company among the systems they detected on line, ES&S. The AT&T buildingon Second Avenueis owned by BellSouth Telecommunications, an operating company of AT&T, according to local records. Thats an interesting coincidence.. Both Dominion Voting Systems andAT&T confirmed the communications company was not contracted to audit Dominion's machines. Dominion was founded in the wake of a different controversy: the failure of punch-card voting machines and their infamous hanging chads in the 2000 election. Reuters Fact Check previously debunked this claim here . "AT&T got a contract to do forensic audit on Dominion voting machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week," one Dec. 27postsays. Spokespeople for both AT&T and Dominion told USA TODAY that AT&T was not contracted to audit Dominion voting machines, and no Dominion voting machines were being held in the AT&T building outside of which the RV exploded. But Skogland points to some good news. The explosion disrupted AT&T wireless and internet services, leading to widespread 911 issues in the Nashville area, The Tennessean reported. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. The "Vulture", Dominion Voting Systems, AT&T, CNN, and Twitter AT&T not conducting voting machine audit near Nashville explosion site MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has promised for months since the 2020 election that he had obtained Dominion, Smartmatic and ES&S voting machines, and they would be on full. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. The electronic voting system company accused the television network of spreading lies that Dominion machines were used to rig the 2020 election against Donald Trump. CNN didnt report that Anthony Warner, the person authorities have identified as the bomber, died from COVID-19. Those networks are among the defendants Coomer is suing. Social media is home to several conspiracy theories about the explosion in Nashville on Christmas Day. Please note t he instructions and videos shown here have been prepared by the manufacturers and are general in nature. Examples can be seen here , here and here . Carroll County GOP claims Dems were behind Nashville bombing - WKYC "You can see as theres a line flying in, theres a little bit of a glow and then theres the explosion," a narrator says in the video. The largest manufacturer of voting machines, ES&S, told NBC News their systems are protected by firewalls and are not on the public internet. But both Skoglund and Andrew Appel, a Princeton computer science professor and expert on elections, said such firewalls can and have been breached. Fact check: A New York printing company that burned down was not under AT&T did not have a contract to audit Dominion machines and was not holding Dominion machines in its Nashville building, both companies confirmed to The Associated Press. Newsmax TV Airs Fact-Check on Smartmatic and Dominion - Mediaite Read more about our fact-checking workhere . It wasn't meant to kill people, but to destroy a building. Then, a plume of smoke rises behind three light poles. The investigation of the Nashville bombing is ongoing, but the Facebook post is inaccurate and ridiculous. In addition to Coomer's lawsuit, Dominion is threatening legal action against Sidney Powell, who has been among the loudest voices pushing conspiracy theories on behalf of the Trump campaign. Owners of Dominion Voting Systems,(the company many people are accusing of voter fraud) are former executives from Cerebus," another post reads.