Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, has advocated for the elimination of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the United States. Musk, who also leads SpaceX, made his comments in response to a post by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent candidate for President of the United States. Kennedy Jr. raised concerns about alleged voting irregularities tied to EVMs in Puerto Rico’s primary elections.
In a post on Twitter, Kennedy Jr. stated, “Puerto Rico’s primary elections just experienced hundreds of voting irregularities related to electronic voting machines, according to the Associated Press. Luckily, there was a paper trail so the problem was identified and vote tallies corrected. What happens in jurisdictions where there is no paper trail?” Kennedy Jr. asserted that Americans need to guarantee that their votes are being counted and that elections are protected from hacking. He further suggested the reinstatement of paper ballots to prevent electronic interference in the electoral process.
Reacting to Kennedy Jr.’s post, Musk tweeted, “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.” Musk’s statement has garnered significant traction on Twitter, with over 1 lakh users liking the tweet, 20,000 retweets, and 8,000 reactions. Several users commented on Musk’s post, expressing support for his views and calling for increased election security measures.
One user advocated for the elimination of mail-in voting and drop boxes, while another stated that electronic voting machines are the means by which election manipulation occurs. A user named Shame Horne commented that Musk would have been banned from Twitter for election interference had he not acquired the platform. Another user suggested that electronic voting machines with paper backups and separate tabulators could be a viable solution. Additionally, a user emphasized the need for a streamlined vote-counting process, suggesting that each state should have only one day for counting.
