Flaw in Right-Wing 'Election Integrity' App Exposes Voter-Suppression Plan and User Data

In a since-deleted VoteAlert station reviewed by WIRED, a idiosyncratic wrote: “I’m astir apt going to beryllium fired for this but I was hired by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters arsenic an Election Officer successful Hemet, CA. Since I’m successful complaint astatine this polling center, I’m asking for citizenship ID of anyone that looks suspiciously similar they’re not present legally.”

The station went connected to suggest that the Riverside County Sheriff's bureau wouldn’t intervene successful her scheme. “It’s conscionable a driblet successful the bucket but I’m going to bash my portion to halt predetermination fraud,” she wrote. “Wish maine luck🙏”

WIRED traced the email associated with the station to a California pistillate who describes herself arsenic a idiosyncratic who is “FED UP with each the bullsh*t,” according to 1 app profile. “You’re lone getting the hard, smack-your-face TRUTH from me.”

The woman, whose sanction WIRED is not publishing due to the fact that it was revealed done a information flaw, did not respond to requests for comment.

In a telephone call, Riverside County nationalist accusation serviceman Elizabeth Florer confirmed that the region had hired an predetermination idiosyncratic matching WIRED’s findings and committed to ensuring each predetermination laws are followed and are investigating the incident. Florer added that further unit person present been deployed to the Hemet polling halfway to supply oversight and guarantee strict compliance with predetermination laws.

True the Vote is possibly champion known for its relation successful the wide debunked movie 2,000 Mules. The movie relied heavy connected the group’s probe to allege that “ballot mules” were paid to fraudulently cod and present ballots for Democratic candidates successful cardinal plaything states during the 2020 election. However, an probe by the Associated Press recovered that the movie was based connected flawed and improper investigation of compartment telephone determination data. After a defamation lawsuit, the film’s publishers, Salem Media Group, retracted the film, removing it from its platforms, and said determination wouldn't beryllium immoderate aboriginal organisation of the book. They besides issued an apology to a elector falsely portrayed arsenic illegally voting successful the film.

Undeterred, successful 2022 True the Vote launched a web app called IV3, which it claimed led to the situation of hundreds of thousands of elector registrations. A WIRED analysis recovered that the app’s methodology was unreliable and prone to error, with experts informing that IV3 weaponizes nationalist information and is much apt to region eligible voters from the rolls than to observe wide fraud—a occupation they enactment is virtually nonexistent successful the US.

In records obtained by the nonprofit radical American Oversight and shared with WIRED, successful May 2024, an idiosyncratic with the username Totes Legit Votes seemingly utilized IV3 to situation the eligibility of 5,000 radical successful Florida.

True the Vote has struggled to supply courts with meaningful grounds to substantiate its claims of wide elector fraud.

In 2021, the radical filed a ailment with Georgia’s caput of state, alleging wide amerciable ballot stuffing successful Atlanta during the 2020 predetermination and consequent runoff. However, erstwhile ordered by a justice to supply evidence, True the Vote admitted it had nary names oregon documentation to enactment its claims.

The pursuing year, court marshals arrested Engelbrecht, True the Vote’s founder, and board member Gregg Phillips aft they defied a tribunal bid to nutrient grounds successful a defamation lawsuit brought by the bundle institution Konnech. The suit accused True the Vote of falsely claiming that Konnech stored US predetermination workers’ idiosyncratic accusation connected an unsecured server successful China.