Head of Dominion Voting Systems testifies before Michigan legislators

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - On the day the top Republican in Congress conceded the election is over, Michigan lawmakers dug deeper into fraud conspiracy theories.

The Senate Oversight Committee heard hours of testimony from Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos.

The company has been the subject of a wild conspiracy theory pushed by President Trump and his campaign.

They claim a dead Venezuelan dictator helped rigged its machines to turn Trump votes into Biden votes.

Poulos told lawmakers those claims are baseless.

“Dominion is not, and has never been a friend for communists. It has no ties to Hugo Chavez. The late dictator of Venezuela. It has never been involved in Venezuelan elections. None of Dominion’s systems use the Smartmatic software that has come under attack, as any state certification lab could verify,” said Poulos.

He called the allegations made against the company falsehoods and egregious lies.

“The disinformation campaign being waged against Dominion defies facts or logic,” said Poulos. “It is critical to set the record straight today on several of the most persistent lies. First, There were no switched or deleted votes involving Dominion machines.”

This as the president continued to tweet allegations against the company on Tuesday saying Antrim country was at the center of it all.

The results of the election have been confirmed by electors in 50 states including the District of Columbia. But Republicans in the state legislature say they still have questions.

“Is the memory cards that you put into the machinery, is that locked down so that the memory card cannot be manipulated and or distorted?” asked Sen. Peter Lucido, (R-Shelby Township).

Poulos defended his company and told the committee despite unfounded claims, Dominion machines in Antrim County were not connected to the internet.

He said the company was not started in nor has ties to Venezuela, were not working for democratratic politicians, and ballots were not sent oversees.

“Those people making baseless claims, surely know that they are lies. But many honest Americans, see them proliferated on social media, and they believe them. These lies have consequences,” said Poulos.

There was an issue with the “unofficial” count online in Antrim County. State officials investigated and found that it was the result of human error, not the voting machines.

“The most important check on our machines, is the paper ballot. Michigan has paper ballot records, on every vote cast on a Dominion machine. The proof of our machines accuracy is in these paper ballots,” said Poulos.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

On Tuesday the House and Senate Oversight committees issued subpoenas to the Detroit City Clerk and the Livonia City Clerk.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says there will be a hand count of votes in Antrim County later this week.

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