Fact Check: Dominion Voting Machine Algorithm Was NOT 'Broken' By Test Run On 'Sequestered' Machines In Georgia

Fact Check

  • by: Alan Duke
Fact Check: Dominion Voting Machine Algorithm Was NOT 'Broken' By Test Run On 'Sequestered' Machines In Georgia No Such Test

Did a test run using Dominion voting machines "sequestered" in Ware County, Georgia, reveal that an algorithm secretly gave Biden 26% extra votes? No, that's not true: The chief election officer in Ware County told Lead Stories the claim is "100% fake." No machines were sequestered and no test run was conducted, Elections Supervisor Carlos Nelson said. A high-ranking official with the Georgia secretary of state's office also confirmed to Lead Stories it was false. Lead Stories previously debunked the claim that "Trump Team" had seized Ware County machines for testing. The apparent main source of this claim said he heard it from a woman who told him she heard it from a friend and did not know where her friend heard it.

The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here) posted by Robb Hurst, an accountant in Georgia, on December 6, 2020. The Twitter thread opened:

Ware County, Ga has broken the Dominion algorithm:

Using sequestered Dominion Equipment, Ware County ran a equal number of Trump votes and Biden votes through the Tabulator and the Tabulator reported a 26% lead for Biden.

This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of writing:

Twitter screenshot

(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Mon Dec 7 21:07:10 2020 UTC)

Hurst admitted in a tweet that he did not have confirmation of the claim when he said he had gotten the information about the test run from a Republican Party official in another south Georgia county, and he was hoping to get the supporting documents. He wrote:

I have reached out to Debbie Browning of Tift County Republican Party to request any source docs.

This is what that post looked like on Twitter at the time of posting:

Hurst later posted a tweet that made it clear there was no credible source. He said Browning told him she heard it "from a friend and is not sure of original source."

Lead Stories has reached out to Browning and we will update this story when we receive a response.

Hurst did respond to Lead Stories, explaining that Browning eventually provided him with information from Garland Favorito:

That info posted was from research done by Garland Favorito. Debbie had sent me some info. She pointed me to Garland's project.

Lead Stories interviewed Garland Favorito, who heads the pro-Trump group VoterGa, who was initially quoted by a talk show host on a podcast as saying the machines were seized and he studied them. But Favorito told us on Sunday, December 6, 2020, that he never claimed to have controlled or studied a Dominion voting machine. He called the reports "a myth."

Lead Stories debunked the initial claim that Dominion voting machines from Ware County had come into the control of the Trump campaign and they had run tests that revealed voter fraud. Read Fact Check: Trump Team Does NOT Have Dominion Machine From A Small Georgia County That Shows Votes Flipped from Trump to Biden.

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  Alan Duke

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

Read more about or contact Alan Duke

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