This essay is a bit different. Instead of discussing a specific lie, I provide explanations of how election fraud lies are created and disseminated.

The Presidential Pipeline

This is a common sequence for generating election fraud lies. I call it the Presidential Pipeline. It's a way of spreading lies and misinformation to a political party's base.

1. An anonymous baseless conspiracy theory is posted
2. A right-wing blogger breathlessly cites it
3. A conservative news outlet runs with it
4. The United States president spreads it as fact
5. The president's supporters fervidly share it on social media

Here is the outline of how it works: 1. Reddit is a good place to start a conspiracy theory (CT). 2. The Gateway Pundit ("Where Hope Finally Made a Comeback") is a useful rightwing propaganda outlet. 3. OANN and Newsmax love pushing CT to the Trump base. 4. Trump's presidential Twitter megaphone gives the CT widespread exposure. 5. Facebook. 'Nuff said.

The Demonic Algorithm

Everybody knows that algorithms are satanic demons created by Democrats to force America into socialism. The fractional voting algorithm is a prime example of this computational devilry: A vote for candidate Trump is counted as .75 while a vote for candidate Biden is counted as 1.25. [EdG Note: This was sarcasm. See my essay on fractional voting for the truth about this oft-repeated rightwing lie.]

But what is an algorithm? An algorithm is a set of instructions designed to perform a specific task. For example, 1 + 1 = 2. Yes, arithmetic rules are a form of basic algorithm. In computer code, this simple algorithm to calculate a sum could be written as

x=1, y=1, z=0;
z=x+y;

Guess what z now equals? YES!! You get a Scooby Snack!! It IS 2.

So how does this relate to elections? Imagine z is the sum of all individual votes for a candidate. In other words, the end result of a counting algorithm. Can you see how easy it is to throw the election to Biden simply by multiplying z by 1.25? (In our example algorithm, that means z is now 2.5 instead of 2.)

Easy-peasy, right? Until you spend 5 seconds considering how US elections work in the real world. Then you realize just how difficult it is to steal a general election. Single voting machine counts are summed into precinct counts which are summed into city or county counts which are summed into state counts which are summed into national counts. Manipulation of z means it no longer matches the machine, precinct, city/county, and state counts. Or the paper ballots. Which makes it easy-peasy. To detect cheating.

The Conflation Aggravation

To conflate is to combine two or more things into one. Conflation is a common ruse of Election Truthers. An example from Sidney Powell's ludicrous "Kraken" lawsuit:

4. The fraud begins with the election software and hardware from Dominion Voting Systems Corporation (“Dominion”) used by the MichiganBoard [sic] of State Canvassers. The Dominion systems derive from the software designed by Smartmatic Corporation, which became Sequoia in the United States.

5. Smartmatic and Dominion were founded by foreign oligarchs and dictators to ensure computerized ballot-stuffing and vote manipulation to whatever level was needed to make certain Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez never lost another election.

This is a fine specimen of multilevel conflation aggravation. She claims that Dominion derives from Smartmatic which became Sequoia after a generous sprinkling of magic pixie dust.

Of course we can't let inconvenient facts get in the way of a compelling conspiracy theory. Facts such as:

• Sequoia Voting Systems began as Mathematical Systems Corporation of Anaheim, California in 1970
• Smartmatic was incorporated in Delaware in 2000 and established its headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida
• Dominion Voting Systems was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2003 and bought Sequoia in 2010

So Sequoia was founded 30 years before Smartmatic but Smartmatic used a DeLorean with a 1.21 jigawatt flux capacitor to travel back in time and become Sequoia.

Then Dominion derives from Smartmatic software even though the two companies are bitter rivals, never had a software licensing agreement, are located in different countries, and other than counting votes for elections, the two software applications do not share a code base or have a common look and feel.

As a nice added touch for the gullible, Powell throws in rightwing boogeyman Hugo Chavez. However, Dominion was founded in Canada. While many on the right have long known that Canada is a sordid socialist shithole, most of us progressives are blissfully unaware it is run by foreign oligarchs and has a dictator as Prime Minister. TRUDEAU!!!!!!!

And while it is true the founders of Smartmatic are originally from Venezuela, it's unlikely they founded the company to ensure Hugo Chavez never lost an election. Especially when it's known Smartmatic was founded in 2000 and didn't win its first Venezuela contract until 2004. [EdG Note: I will delve much more deeply into Smartmatic in a future essay.]

The Multiplication Factory

It would be foolish to claim that Biden stole the election by a few hundred or few thousand votes. Instead, Election Truthers employ the Big Lie. For example, the following florid prose squirts out of Powell's "Michigan Kraken®" lawsuit like ink from an affrightened octopus's asshole.

The multifaceted schemes and artifices implemented by Defendants and their collaborators to defraud resulted in the unlawful counting, or manufacturing, of hundreds of thousands of illegal, ineligible, duplicate or purely fictitious ballots in the State of Michigan, that constitute a multiple of Biden’s purported lead in the State.

Biden's purported lead in the State is 154,188. Multiples of that are shown in the following snark table I created out of thin air:

To make abundantly clear just how unlikely these multiples are, consider that Trump won Michigan in 2016 by a whopping 0.23% margin — a magnificent 10,704 votes. The myth of Biden's purported lead being fraudulent is thoroughly debunked when you realize that Michigan has a +13% edge in Democratic voter registrations and Biden is a Democrat.

The rightwing thinks there's just no way Trump's 9.6% vote lead prior to the infamous 3am vote dump was not written on stone tablets in a state with a 13% Democratic registered voter lead. That is insane thinking.

The Affidavit Gambit

In support of their disputable "facts", Republicans have provided hundreds of thousands of affidavits. [EdG Note: This was sarcasm.]

An affidavit is a sworn statement in writing. They are mainly used in Court proceedings and may serve as a written alternative to a person attending Court to give oral evidence in the witness box. For an affidavit to be valid, it must be notarized. You can challenge an affidavit if the information is incorrect or if the person signing the affidavit (the affiant) does not have personal knowledge of the information stated on the affidavit.

[EdG Note: The notary affirms that the person submitting the affidavit was the person that signed it. They do NOT check if the allegations are true.]

Here's the title and first paragraph of the affidavit of XXXXXXXXXX, arguably the most important witness in The Kraken. (Link to Exhibit 1 Affidavit)

After some background info, XXXXXXXXXX gets down to the nitty-gritty.

• I was a direct witness to the creation and operation of an electronic voting system in a conspiracy between a company known as Smartmatic and the leaders of conspiracy with the Venezuelan government
• In mid-February of 2009, there was a national referendum to change the Constitution of Venezuela
• After passage of the referendum, President Chavez instructed me to make arrangements for him to meet with three executives from Smartmatic
• Chavez offered Smartmatic many inducements, including large sums of money, for Smartmatic to create or modify the voting system so that it would guarantee Chavez would win every election cycle. Smartmatic’s team agreed to create such a system and did so
• After the Smartmatic Electoral Management System was put in place, I closely observed several elections where the results were manipulated using Smartmatic software. One such election was in December 2006 when Chavez was running against Rosales

Using the same DeLorean time machine it used to become Sequoia, Smartmatic traveled back in time from 2009 to rig the 2006 presidential election for Hugo Chavez. MCFLY!!!!

It is unclear whether the time travel to 2006 was before or after the time trip to 2004 to rig the Chavez recall election. As reported in a Wall Street Journal investigative piece cited in Sidney Powell's "Georgia Kraken":

Smartmatic came to prominence in 2004 when its machines were used in an election to recall President Chávez, which Mr. Chávez won handily.

XXXXXXXXXX then cements his honesty with the following declaration:

To summarize:

• 2009 - Smartmatic meets with Chavez and is tasked with developing election fraud software
• 2006 - Smartmatic travels back in time to rig the 2006 Venezuela presidential election for Chavez
• 2004 - Smartmatic again travels back in time to rig the 2004 recall election in favor of Chavez
• 2000 - Smartmatic climbs aboard the DeLorean once more to develop software Hugo Chavez tasked them with in 2009

Other Election Fraud Lies Essays

Election Fraud Lies: The Full List of Essays