"Only do paper ballots," Elon Musk says voting machines rig elections

Pennsylvania: Elon Musk, the owner of X, while speaking at a town hall in the swing state of Pennsylvania, claimed that voting machines rig elections, ABC News reported.

Musk is on a speaking tour around Pennsylvania, ABC News reported.

In his speech, Musk linked voting machines by Dominion to Republicans' losses in Philadelphia and Arizona, saying, "There's always a sort of question of like, say, the Dominion voting machines. It is weird that you know, I think they're used in Philadelphia and Maricopa County, but not in a lot of other places," ABC News reported. "Doesn't that seem like a heck of a coincidence?" Musk said, while calling for states around the country to "only do paper ballots, hand-counted."

Elon Musk emerged as a staunch supporter of Presidential Republican candidate Donald Trump, and donated USD 75 million to his Political Action Committee to put Trump back in the White House. The donation made Musk one of the largest spenders of the 2024 cycle, as per ABC News.

"I'm a technologist, I know a lot about computers," Musk told the crowd during the event on Thursday (local time). "And I'm like, the last thing I would do is trust a computer program, because it's just too easy to hack."

Musk mentioned a voting machine company Dominion, which last year sued Fox News for defamation over the network's claims that it engaged in a vote-rigging conspiracy, then agreed to a landmark USD 787 million settlement with the network, as per ABC reported.

A statement given by Dominion's spokesperson following Musk's comments said, "Fact: Dominion does not serve Philadelphia County. Fact: Dominion's voting systems are already based on voter verified paper ballots. Fact: Hand counts and audits of such paper ballots have repeatedly proven that Dominion machines produce accurate results. These are not matters of opinion. They are verifiable facts," ABC News quoted.

ABC News reported that even before Musk's comments, Dominion issued a statement, encouraging voters to rely on verified sources of information with regards to elections.

"We are closely monitoring claims around the 2024 election. We strongly encourage people to rely upon verified, credible sources of election information -- sources who can fully explain the many layers of physical, operational, and technical safeguards that exist to protect the integrity of our elections, including voting with paper ballots that can be audited and recounted," ABC News quoted Dominion's statement.