Dominion voting machines switched votes in 2020
| Dominion voting machines switched votes in 2020 | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "Voting machines and software made by Dominion Voting Systems secretly switched or deleted millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, using algorithms linked to Venezuela." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | Conspiracy Theory Fabrication |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2020 |
| Origin | Claims by President Trump, lawyers including Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, and broadcasts on Fox News, Newsmax and One America News in November and December 2020 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-27 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
The claim that Dominion voting machines switched votes in 2020 was a central part of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Lawyers for and allied with President Trump alleged that Dominion Voting Systems, whose equipment was used in many states, had rigged its machines to flip votes to Joe Biden, and linked the company to the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. Hand recounts, audits and investigations found that Dominion machines had counted votes accurately. Dominion sued several broadcasters and individuals for defamation. In April 2023 Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million to settle its lawsuit, one of the largest known defamation settlements in US history, after court filings showed that Fox hosts and executives had privately doubted the claims they aired.
The claim
In a November 19, 2020, news conference, Sidney Powell, then working with the Trump campaign, said Dominion software had been created in Venezuela at the direction of Chávez to rig elections. Trump posted that Dominion had deleted millions of votes. Fox News, Newsmax and One America News aired the claims repeatedly. Supporters cited an error in Antrim County, Michigan, where early unofficial results had briefly shown Biden ahead in a Republican-leaning county.
What the evidence shows
- Hand counts. In Georgia, a full hand count of paper ballots matched the machine count within a small margin, and a later machine recount confirmed it again. Hand counts in other jurisdictions using Dominion equipment produced similar results.
- Antrim County. The early error in Antrim County resulted from a county clerk's failure to update certain software after late ballot changes; it was caught and corrected, and a hand recount confirmed the official result, in which Trump won the county.
- No Venezuela link. Dominion is a company founded in Canada with headquarters in Denver; it had no connection to Chávez or Venezuela. Claims confused it with a different company, Smartmatic, which also sued broadcasters over false claims.
- Security officials. Federal election security officials said they had no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was compromised.
- Fox lawsuit. Documents filed in Dominion's lawsuit showed that prominent Fox hosts and executives privately called the fraud claims ridiculous or false while the network aired them. In April 2023, on the eve of trial, Fox settled for $787.5 million and acknowledged the court's ruling that the claims were false.
- Other cases. Newsmax, One America News and several individuals faced defamation suits from Dominion, Smartmatic or election workers; some settled and others were found liable. Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in 2023 to misdemeanor charges in Georgia related to efforts to overturn the election there.
Why it persists
The Dominion conspiracy theory offered a single, technical explanation for an unwelcome result, one that most people could not evaluate themselves. Isolated, quickly corrected errors were presented as proof of a hidden scheme. The Fox case revealed how commercial pressures to keep audiences can lead broadcasters to air claims they do not believe.
Lessons for readers
- Paper ballots and hand counts provide a direct check on machine tallies.
- An isolated error that is caught and corrected is evidence the system's checks work.
- Ask whether claims about a company's ownership or origins can be verified.
- Defamation lawsuits can bring internal communications to light.
- Media outlets may air claims for commercial reasons.
See also
- The 2020 presidential election was stolen
- Touchscreen machines are switching early voters' votes in the 2026 midterms
- Video shows a touchscreen voting machine refusing a Republican vote in 2026
Sources
- US Dominion, Inc. v. Fox News Network, LLC, Delaware Superior Court, summary judgment opinion (March 31, 2023) and settlement announcement (April 18, 2023).
- Georgia Secretary of State, 2020 presidential election audit and recount results.
- Michigan Department of State, report on Antrim County results (2020–2021).
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, "Rumor Control" pages on the 2020 election.