San Francisco: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday revisited the electronic voting machine (EVM) issue ahead of November’s US presidential election, backing paper ballots and in-person voting.
“EVMs and anything sent by mail are too risky,” the tech billionaire said in a post on the X social media platform.
“Only paper ballots and in-person voting should be mandatory,” the X owner said, pointing to several US news articles about EVMs.
However, not many X users supported his theory.
“On the other hand, paper ballots can easily be manipulated by polling station eavesdroppers. We have no choice but to use factory-programmed EVMs as they cannot be easily hacked,” said user X.
In a previous post, Musk claimed the system is “designed” to make it impossible to prove fraud, when combined with the main vote.
“Mail-in and drop-box voting should not be allowed because installing cameras at in-person polling places would at least count the number of people who showed up and the number of votes cast, preventing mass fraud,” the billionaire argued.
Last month, Masuku and former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar were in a tug-of-war over X on EVMs.
When Chandrasekhar told the tech billionaire that India’s EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media, the Tesla CEO responded by saying “anything can be hacked.”
“Electronic voting machines can be designed and built just like India has done. I’d be happy to give you a tutorial, Elon,” Chandrasekhar wrote back to the tech billionaire.
Musk was responding to Puerto Rico’s primary election, which was tainted with alleged voting fraud.
Amid a fierce debate over Musk’s EVM claim, Shiv Sena MP and former Union Minister Milind Deora said the billionaire head of a Silicon Valley tech company should not interfere in Indian democracy.
This post was last updated on July 9, 2024 at 2:51 pm
