US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declared Thursday that electronic voting systems are vulnerable to hacking, and expressed support for President Donald Trump’s call for the nation to shift to paper ballots.
During a Cabinet meeting attended by President Trump, Gabbard revealed that her office has obtained evidence of massive vulnerabilities in voting machines that allow hackers to flip votes, confirming what multiple cybersecurity experts found after the rigged 2020 election.
“We have evidence of how these electronic voting systems have been vulnerable to hackers for a very long time and vulnerable to exploitation to manipulate the results of the votes being cast, which further drives forward your mandate to bring about paper ballots across the country so that voters can have faith in the integrity of our elections,” Gabbard said.
Other members of Trump’s administration have also raised the risks of using electronic voting machines in recent years.
In June of 2024, DOGE Chief Elon Musk posted on X: “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.”
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO was responding to a post from then-Independent candidate for president Robert F. Kennedy Jr. commenting on the hundreds of voting irregularities related to electronic voting machines in Puerto Rico’s primary elections.
“Luckily, there was a paper trail so the problem was identified and vote tallies corrected,” RFK Jr. wrote on June 14, 2024. “What happens in jurisdictions where there is no paper trail? US citizens need to know that every one of their votes were counted, and that their elections cannot be hacked. We need to return to paper ballots to avoid electronic interference with elections,” he continued. “My administration will require paper ballots and we will guarantee honest and fair elections.”
Gabbard’s comments signal that the Trump administration is serious about reforming the nation’s election system to guarantee “honest and fair” elections.
At the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner on April 8, he called on Congress to pass sweeping election reforms, including a return to paper ballots, same-day voting, voter ID, and proof of citizenship.
“You can run an election at 8 percent the cost of the machines and get an accurate count, the president argued. “What are Republican governors waiting for?”
Trump also took aim at extended election periods, warning they create opportunities for manipulation and chaos. The president urged lawmakers to introduce a bill demanding one-day, secure elections, saying, “who could be against that?”
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